Minister Jean-Yves Duclos caught in dispute to paint rusted Quebec Bridge

theglobeandmail.com
By Daniel Leblanc
Aug. 31, 2016

A rusted eyesore, the Quebec Bridge is the political equivalent of quicksand, as rookie Liberal cabinet minister Jean-Yves Duclos rapidly discovered.

A former professor of economy at Laval University, Mr. Duclos was appointed as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development last November.

However, the MP for the downtown riding of Quebec was soon ensnared in the long-standing dispute over the $400-million bill to repaint the 99-year-old bridge between Quebec City and Levis.

Mr. Duclos made his first mistake in December when he said that “all options were on the table” for the federal government, including buying back the bridge that belongs to Canadian National Railway Co.

His office quickly intervened to remove the purchase option from the table, but the misstep fuelled pressure on him to come up with a solution.

A Liberal official said Mr. Duclos confided in colleagues that over the summer, the topic of the Quebec Bridge frequently overshadowed his attempts to promote his other projects, such as the new Canada Child Benefit.

On Wednesday, he emerged from a meeting with local mayors and CN officials to announce that Ottawa could eventually “improve” its offer of $75-million to repaint the bridge.

Mr. Duclos said he has already broken new ground by bringing all actors together for two meetings. The next step, he said, will be seeing if Infrastructure Canada and the Quebec government can pitch in on a long-term deal.

“This framework would take it above $75-million,” Mr. Duclos said in an interview, while refusing to put a new timeline on negotiations.

He acknowledged that the issue has consumed a lot of his energy as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

“I think it’s positive that this issue has garnered so much attention, because it shows this is an important file for us and that it is moving along,” he said.

Still, the Liberals have been heavily criticized in local media on this issue, which plays into the hands of the Conservative Party, which holds five of seven ridings in Quebec City.

“Mr. Duclos is a good guy, but on this file, he has been embarrassingly clumsy,” said Conservative MP Gerard Deltell, who is also from Quebec City.

Opened in 1917, the steel bridge that links Quebec City to the south shore of the St. Lawrence is now a mix of green, brown and orange hues. Still, the link is as solid as could be, so scrapping the rust and repainting the bridge is mostly an issue of aesthetics.

But no one wants to foot the entire bill for the job, especially not CN, which says its sole responsibility is to ensure the safety of the bridge.

The federal government’s offer of a $75-million contribution was initially made under the previous Conservative government. Provincial and municipal governments have added $25-million to the offer, bringing the total package to $100-million, which is well short of the overall cost.

Repainting the bridge has been a cause celebre in Quebec City for years, regularly dominating the local news agenda. Mayor Regis Labeaume, a popular politician who is a master arm-twister, is keeping up the pressure.

Earlier this week, he promised to “keep bugging” the federal government, saying he would use the same tactic that persuaded the Quebec government to pick up half the tab for the city’s new hockey arena.

Mr. Labeaume and his counterpart in Levis, Gilles Lehouillier, said on Wednesday that they are now hoping for a 10-year deal to repaint the bridge.

Officially, the lead federal cabinet minister on the file has been Transport Minister Marc Garneau, but Mr. Duclos has been the most visible member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s team on the issue.

Mr. Duclos acknowledged that there has been confusion in Quebec City, given that Mr. Trudeau broke with tradition and refused to appoint “regional ministers.”

“I often say that I’m not the minister for Quebec City, but that I’m a minister from Quebec City,” he said.

Mr. Duclos added that he will now bring Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi into the talks on the future of the Quebec Bridge.

“Sometimes my job is to make sure that the machine is well oiled and to see that the preoccupations and interests and ambitions of my community are well heard in Ottawa,” he said.