Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister, thank you for being here.
I am going to talk about a sensitive subject. On July 6, 2013, at 7 a.m., I sent a text message to one of my acquaintances, asking, “What can I do?” The person replied: “Pray.” Forty-seven people died that night, an entire town centre burned down, and a population was left scarred forever. I am talking about the tragedy that took place in Lac-Mégantic, near my home. I want to take the time to tell the people that we are still thinking of them, that we are thinking of the families. In the municipality and in the greater Lac-Mégantic area, people are still very affected by this.
In 2018, seven years ago, the former Liberal prime minister promised a bypass, but nothing has been done about it. So my question to the minister is this: is the Quebec City-Toronto high-speed rail line more important than the Lac-Mégantic bypass?