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The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is calling on Quebec party leaders and elected officials of the Montréal Metropolitan Community to take back control of the Champlain Bridge file. While the Harper Government launches a Request for Qualifications for the construction of a new bridge, CUPE advocates the formation of a common front against Ottawa. For CUPE, there is only one way to end the lack of clarity: include Quebec and the municipalities at the heart of the process.

“Today, we call on Quebec’s political leaders to take back control of the Champlain Bridge file.’ The matter has become increasingly urgent with the bad news about the condition of the old bridge. We also call on the elected representatives of the Montréal Metropolitan community, starting with Mayor Denis Coderre, to denounce the P3 formula and to form a common front against Ottawa’s intransigence,” said Lucie Levasseur, CUPE-Québec president.

“There is an urgent need to prevent the Harper Government from negotiating a P3 contract in secret, tying the hands of Quebec and the municipalities.” The P3 formula imposes a veil of commercial secrecy and freezes the terms of the toll operated by the private sector. “The only way to build a bridge that is consistent with the needs of the cities it serves is through public procurement, with the full participation of Quebec’s elected representatives,” concluded Pierre-Guy Sylvestre, CUPE economist.

CUPE warns that with a P3, there would inevitably be a toll under the exclusive control of a private consortium. The launch of the project would be shrouded in secrecy, excessively lengthy, and solely in the hands of the federal government. Public delivery is the only way to ensure a speedy, transparent process without the constraints of tolls. But above all, only public procurement would allow the elected representatives of Quebec and the cities to be included at every stage of the project.

“This is an opportunity for Quebec’s political leaders to demonstrate their relevance and political courage. The Champlain Bridge nightmare needs to end once and for all. Only a common front of Quebec’s elected officials can alter the inept approach of the Harper government and its Minister Lebel. The clock is ticking until a P3 contract becomes the next chapter of this fiasco,” warns Pierre-Guy Sylvestre.

CUPE took a passing shot at PPP Canada, which will be involved in a luncheon meeting of the Institut pour le partenariat public-privé at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal on Monday. The conference organizers describe it as “a unique opportunity for Canadian companies to make themselves known to potential PPP bidders on the new St. Lawrence Corridor bridge.” The speaker is John McBride, CEO of PPP Canada, who admitted in February 2011: “Projects carried out fully by the public sector cost less.” 


With over 111,000 members in Quebec, CUPE represents approximately 3,300 members in the province’s mixed sector (longshoremen, and employees of insurance companies and unions, community and social groups, and value shipment services.