Mr. Speaker, residents on both sides of the Ottawa River need a new interprovincial bridge. City planner Jacques Gréber actually planned for it over 60 years ago.
Forty years ago the approaches on both sides of the river were designed. More than 30 years ago they were built. In the spring of 1984 the National Capital Commission told the members of the then Gloucester City Council that it would transfer title to the not yet named Aviation Parkway to the Ontario Department of Transportation to give direct access from the 417-174 split to Montée Paiement and Highway 50 on the Gatineau side. The bridge would be built in 1999. Oops, another thing that did not get done.
The bridge has been a pawn in countless political manoeuvres motivated by nimbyism.
We need a bridge. Sixty years of studies all point to that bridge at Kettle Island.
Nimbyism often hurts the people who adopt it more than anyone else.
The past is an indicator of the future.