I want to say that Mr. Keddy just made my point. He compared having a toll highway and the option to use back roads instead. Obviously, there isn't a choice. It's the only highway and the only place that takes you to Truro or Halifax, but the Champlain bridge is one of four. The Trans-Canada Highway wasn't replacing another road, but in this case, the bridge is replacing another one.
It was mentioned that studies had been done to find out the impact that a toll would have on traffic. We won't have access to those studies. Not Mr. Keddy or anyone else can deny the fact that a toll is generally set up to adjust the flow of traffic. Tolls always have an impact on traffic. No one is questioning the fact that the Champlain bridge isn't new infrastructure, but one that is being replaced. As things stand, the bridge doesn't have a toll, but the Conservatives plan to put one on the new bridge.
In Montreal, when the extension was done on Highway 25, a toll was set up. On Highway 30, an extension, a toll was put in place and met with little resistance. But in this case, a toll is being put on one of the main gateways to Montreal, one that is used to transport 19% of Quebec's GDP. And yet we're being told that a toll won't have any impact on traffic on the Champlain bridge or the other bridges. Clearly, it will have consequences and they have been studied.
Ms. Pham, you said the studies hadn't been released. They exist but are confidential. The transport committee heard from Transport Canada officials. They said they didn't have all the necessary information and hadn't studied the impact a toll would have on the region or the island's other bridges.
I am willing to accept what you're telling us, but other Transport Canada officials—I don't know whether it was you or others—said that all the analysis hadn't been done.
The Quebec government is obviously against the toll. The business organizations don't want a toll, because they understand the negative impact it will have. I can't wrap my head around why the government is so determined to go this route. It should work with the provinces more.
Now we're hearing that the federal government is willing to divest itself of the would-be toll bridge in the hope that the Quebec government will manage it. Then the Quebec government will be told that, if it doesn't agree, it will have to get rid of the toll and take responsibility for the bridge. The federal government is being totally irresponsible. It is putting Montreal's economic well-being in jeopardy. And that is why we proposed a slew of amendments, including four that address the toll on the bridge.
I don't understand why the federal government is being so stubborn about this. The Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs talks constantly of consultation. There's no consultation. The federal government is imposing its will. The Quebec government is against the decision, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal is against it, and the Agence métropolitaine de transport is against it. All of them understand the impact a toll is going to have on the Jacques-Cartier bridge, the Victoria bridge and the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel.
Once again, I'd like to know who supports the Conservatives' plan to impose a toll. Do you even have a single witness who is in favour of putting a toll on the new Champlain bridge? I have yet to hear one.
Before voting on this solution and the amendments, I'd like you to show me people who will be affected by the toll and who are in favour of it. I still need to meet a single one. We've been discussing this for about a year or a year and a half now.