Ottawa to replace Champlain Bridge over St. Lawrence River in Montreal

The federal government has announced a 10-year, $5-billion plan to build a replacement for the deteriorating Champlain Bridge over the St. Lawrence River in Montreal.

MONTREAL

The federal government has announced a 10-year, $5-billion plan to build a replacement for Montreal's deteriorating Champlain Bridge. While making the announcement Wednesday, Transport Minister Denis Lebel said the project would create 30,000 jobs.

“This project will be one of the most important of the decade,” Lebel said.

“Today is a great day… The decision has been made and I can tell you there will be a new bridge over the St. Lawrence River.”

Lebel said it should take 10 years to open a new bridge but he promised to do his best to make it happen sooner.

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Lebel said the federal government favours a toll system and a public-private partnership to reduce costs. The project will cost federal taxpayers little or nothing, he said.

The federally run bridge is perhaps the country's busiest and is a major artery for Canada-U.S. trade.

The Conservatives had faced intense pressure to announce their intentions with respect to the bridge, amid concerns about the safety and long-term viability of the infrastructure.

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But, unlike other political parties, the Tories had resisted doing so during the recent federal election.

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay attended Wednesday's news conference and expressed pleasure with the announcement.

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But nobody from the Quebec government was there. Even before the news conference, the provincial transport minister had already expressed opposition to the toll-system idea.

But Lebel brushed aside those concerns.

He noted that, throughout the half-century lifespan of the Champlain Bridge dating back to the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, it has never belonged to the provincial government.

“Quebec's not here because this infrastructure is 100 per cent federal,” he said.

The provincial transport minister, Pierre Moreau, later downplayed his earlier remarks. He told reporters in Quebec City that he was thrilled by Wednesday's news and didn't wanted to darken the day by dwelling on his opposition to tolls.

Among the possibilities floated in a pre-feasibility study was replacing the bridge with a tunnel beneath Montreal's southern shore. But Lebel said that idea is being ruled out.

The Canadian Press