Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today to the motion by the member for Louis-Hébert. I want to thank him for bringing this issue to the attention of the House.
When I saw this motion on the order paper, I was immediately intrigued by its purpose and potential interest. I can understand perfectly why the hon. member wants this issue to be addressed in the House. The bridge is in his riding, and his constituents are directly affected by this major artery in the Quebec City area.
Not only is the Quebec bridge an important transportation link, but it is a historical monument that identifies greater Quebec City. It is a historical bridge, not only for Quebec, but for Canada as well, and it must be maintained. The federal government is responsible for the safety of the people who use this bridge, regardless of who owns it at present.
You will not be surprised to learn that there is also a bridge in my riding: the Champlain bridge. The Champlain bridge is clearly in no way a historical monument, but it does have the largest volume of traffic in Canada. Like the member for Louis-Hébert, I am concerned about the safety of my constituents and all the people who use the Champlain bridge.
Since I was elected, I have repeatedly called on the government to show real leadership in maintaining and improving this vital link with Montreal's south shore. And yes, I know that the members opposite will mention the $212 million that was allocated in the last budget, but that money is spread over 10 years and is nothing but a band-aid solution to a real, imminent problem.
I could talk about the challenges of the Champlain bridge all day, but what I would like to talk about is another bridge just down the river from my riding and one that is a big brother to the Pont de Québec. I am talking about Victoria Bridge.
Victoria Bridge, the oldest in the Montreal area, originally opened as a federal rail bridge in 1859 and Canadian National Railway inherited it from its predecessor, Grand Trunk Railway, in 1918.
Transport Canada entered into an agreement with CN, then a crown corporation, in 1962, taking responsibility for the costs of maintenance and repair of the brackets and the roadway surface, as well as other operating expenses. Transport Canada also began compensating CN for all lost toll revenues in the amount of $664,000 per annum under this agreement. According to a departmental press release in 1997, $150 million had been transferred to CN between 1962 and 1997 under this agreement.
Between 1997 and 2008, Transport Canada transferred approximately $54 million to Canadian National Railway—privatized in 1995—under this agreement.
Let us compare this to the Pont de Québec. The bridge was built as part of the National Transcontinental Railway, which later merged with the Canadian National Railway, CN. The federal government retained ownership of CN until 1993. The federal government transferred ownership of the Pont de Québec to CN for $1 in 1993.
There is currently no agreement—and therein lies the problem—between the federal government and CN with respect to federal contributions to the cost of maintaining the automobile section of this bridge even though CN did enter into such an agreement with the Province of Quebec. In 1997 the federal government agreed to contribute, together with the Province of Quebec and CN, to bridge repairs costing $60 million. The federal government allocated $6 million—$600,000 per year over 10 years—to the project.
CN and the federal government are currently in court over this project. The federal government claims that the project includes painting the bridge but CN decided that it would not paint the bridge because of the additional cost of environmental mitigation.
That is the situation today. The member for Louis-Hébert is concerned about the outcome of the dispute between CN and the federal government and has proposed a solution whereby the federal government would assume complete responsibility for the bridge to ensure that all necessary work is completed.
Unfortunately, I believe that CN will not agree to sell the bridge to the federal government for $1. However, I believe that immediate assistance is required to protect the safety of everyone using the bridge as well to preserve this important historic structure.
I would therefore like to suggest to my colleague that a proposal to government might be modelled after the Victoria Bridge approach. However, we support his motion in principle, provided there will be with discussions about mutually beneficial amendments.