Mr. Speaker, on April 30 I put a question to the Minister of Transport about the Quebec bridge. As the reply did not satisfy me or the people of the Quebec City area, I hope that I will receive a better answer today from the minister or his representative.
Members will remember my question. In earlier replies, the minister kept repeating: "The Quebec bridge belongs to CN, and CN is now a private company. Since it is a private company, I, as the Minister of Transport, have no responsibility".
This is precisely what we want to challenge. In my question, I referred to the bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, in which the federal government has invested $2.1 billion, although it is being built by a private enterprise, a consortium. We were trying to show that there was a double standard. After all, the Quebec City area has six times the population of Prince Edward Island.
Today, I would like to argue my point, since we have a few minutes. Why should the federal government continue? It cannot, in our view, invoke the transfer of responsibility to CN because of privatization for the following reasons.
CN was to receive in exchange for one dollar lands worth $30 million for reconstruction and architectural restoration of the Quebec bridge, according to an agreement entered into in July, 1993. Earlier this year it was learned that Jocelyne Bourgon, of the Privy Council, the highest public servant in that body, had stated in a December 1993 letter to the Quebec deputy minister of transport, Mr Lalande, that the land would be fully transferred to CN only over a five year period.
In addition, the grant deed was signed only on November 7, 1995 by the federal Minister of Transport. This means, therefore, that the lands will not be fully deeded over the CN before November of the year 2000. The considerable neglect of the bridge occurred during the time that the federal government was still the owner.
By 1998, the federal government will have invested, and I give you these figures just as an example, $250 million in the Champlain bridge and the Jacques-Cartier bridge, both located in the province of Quebec. So, we think the federal government should do the same for the Quebec bridge.
Contrary to what the minister stated, the Government of Quebec has indicated that it was ready to reopen the agreement concerning vehicular traffic on the bridge, provided the federal government also makes a commitment within an agreement with both the CN and the Quebec Department of Transport.
The Quebec Department of Transport is ready to provide $1.5 million a year, over the next 16 years, even if its current contribution is only $25,000. Also, earlier this year, the Quebec bridge was designated a historic national landmark by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Soon, Unesco will be designating the bridge as a world heritage site.
Under these circumstances, I do not think the federal government can argue that it is no longer its responsibility, as I said at the beginning, since it has yet to meet all the commitments it made to the CN.
Therefore, I would ask the representative of the minister not to give us the same arguments the minister used to turn down my request and to tell us if he has found the time, since the last time I asked a question on this issue, to meet with the Quebec Minister of Transport, who I know is very willing to do something about this whole situation.
I think the argument he used in his answer was also suitably addressed. So, can the federal government tell us what it intends to do about repairs to the Quebec bridge?