Weeks after the environment minister came under fire for saying Ottawa would no longer invest in new road infrastructure, he repeatedly told a government committee that his comments were misinterpreted and referred exclusively to a project in Quebec.
“I was specifically referring to the third link project that links Quebec City and its south shore. I wasn’t speaking of Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg or Vancouver,” Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Committee on March 21.
Mr. Guilbeault previously said on Feb. 12 that the federal government had decided to stop investing in new road infrastructure.
“Of course, we will continue to be there for cities, provinces, and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network,” he said during a conference on public transit in Montreal.
Mr. Guilbeault added funding of new road networks would encourage more Canadians to drive their own personal vehicles, which would increase congestion and encourage further road development. He said that money would be better spent on climate-related efforts.
Two days after the comments, Mr. Guilbeault told reporters he “should have been more specific” in his initial comments. He said he was referring to funding for large projects like the Troisième lien in Quebec, which Premier François Legault promised during the 2018 election but has not yet started.
Clarifying Comments
In his opening statement before the committee, Mr. Guilbeault highlighted that the Liberal government had invested nearly $1.6 billion since 2015 to maintain and strengthen existing roadway infrastructure administered by Parks Canada. He later added that Ottawa had made investments to help Canadians who want to “diversify” their forms of transportation.Bloc Quebecois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval mentioned several Quebec towns that are not connected to the province’s road network, and said the residents of those communities would not be “happy” to hear that Ottawa was no longer making road investments.
“I should have been more specific when I spoke first. I’ve given you countless examples of investments that the federal government is making,” Mr. Guilbeault said.
Mr. Barsalou-Duval questioned why Mr. Guilbeault had not mentioned the third link project in his original comments, and why he said in his follow-up answer that Ottawa did not “have funds for large projects like the Troisième lien.”
“So what we can understand is that the government will not get involved in major projects. In other words, to connect the towns like the one I’ve mentioned,” Mr. Barsalou-Duval said.
“I wouldn’t characterize what I said the way you do. I was speaking of the third link,” Mr. Guilbeault replied.
Conservative MP Dominique Vien said the environment minister’s comments had been a “slap in the face” for rural Quebecers and that his vision was a “dogma based on an urban model.”
Mr. Guilbeault responded that he knew what it was like to live in a rural riding, and that the federal government had made significant investments in Quebec compared to the previous Conservative government.
Prior to Mr. Guilbeault’s testimony on March 21, Housing and Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser told the committee that the federal government had not changed its policy on building new roads.
“I can reassure you, we maintain support for road building and that there hasn’t been a policy change,” Mr. Fraser told MPs.
