Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this adjournment debate and to answer my colleague's questions.
As mentioned at the beginning of this project, our goal is to minimize the costs to taxpayers and promote the user-pay principle. That is why the new bridge will have a toll.
That said, the specific tolls that will be collected once the new bridge opens are currently being studied by our consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, as part of the business case for the project. The company is working to finalize the business case, which will include an analysis of traffic projections and estimated revenues under different toll scenarios. The actual toll rates to be applied will therefore be discussed, and a government decision will be made once the government has completed all analyses.
I would like to point out that during similar projects, including highways 25 and 30, the toll rates were disclosed just a few months before the infrastructure was put in use. Our ultimate goal is to make responsible financial and technical decisions.
As an example, on October 2, Buckland & Taylor recommended that we take measures to fill the gap between the expected lifespan of the existing Champlain Bridge and the opening of the new bridge, initially scheduled for 2021. We implemented all the recommendations made by Buckland & Taylor as soon as we received them.
As hon. members know, the condition of the Champlain Bridge is constantly monitored to ensure the bridge is safe. Following one of these inspections, a southbound traffic lane was closed as a precautionary measure while the reinforcement work was being done. This closure supported Buckland & Taylor's recommendations on the need to expedite the work to open the new bridge.
Given the accelerated schedule, one of the responsible decisions we took as a government was to commission the Arup company to develop the technical requirements for the design, construction, maintenance and operation of the bridge, to be integrated into the procurement documentation.
In awarding the contract, Public Works and Government Services Canada, which awarded the contract on behalf of Transport Canada, conducted a rigorous analysis of all possible procurement approaches. The Arup proposal was thoroughly analyzed to ensure it provided the best value for Canada.
Following this analysis, it was determined that awarding a contract to Arup without a tendering process would shorten the timeline for building the new bridge by at least six months. What is more, the Government Contracts Regulations authorize the government to award a contract without a tendering process when it is in the public interest. Awarding the engineering contract to Arup was one of the key ways we were able to ensure that the new bridge will be completed more quickly because the firm is already very familiar with this file.
It is important to mention that Arup and all its main subcontractors and consultants cannot be a part of any team that submits a bid in the future public-private partnership pertaining to the new bridge over the St. Lawrence.
Aside from awarding the contract to Arup, we are reassessing the project timeline in order to find other ways to have the new bridge ready more quickly. Once we have finished doing this in the next few weeks, we will release the new schedule. I want to be clear. Although we are trying to speed up the process, we will meet all of our commitments, particularly with regard to the architectural quality of the new bridge. As hon. members know, the government has always been sensitive to this issue.
That is why, last May, in co-operation with the City of Montreal, we began assessing various options to make sure that the new bridge would be of high architectural quality, yet still completed on time and on budget.
Following that process, a report was submitted to us, and the government will soon make a decision on which option to go with.