QUEBEC CITY – Empty promises, huge cost overruns; that period is over, according to the Parti Québécois.
“The objective is really to make sure projects are well planned,” said President of the Treasury Board Stéphane Bédard.
Bédard was unveiling his government’s 2013-2023 infrastructure plan. He said the $92-billion plan is realistic, unlike previous Liberal plans.
Last Fall, independent firm SECOR-KPMG concluded about 20 major projects under the Charest government had cost 80 per cent more than planned. Bédard said he’s looking over 10 years instead of five, and will apply ethical rules included in Bill 1, that say bidders must be transparent and show clean hands before they’re awarded big public contracts. Bédard admitted he’s already made one exception: promoters of La Romaine, a hydro-electric project he said cannot be delayed any longer, will not have to go through Quebec’s financial watchdog.
Bédard told reporters he’ll invest $32 billion in roads, $20 billion in health and $14 billion in education. But he wouldn’t say specifically where.
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“What we’re getting is nothing,” said Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Christian Dubé. “We’re just getting a sense of what will be spent in the next few years, but no details that we can look at which project, when and at what level. The government on one hand is saying we’re going to be transparent, but when you look at this document it is a very black, dark document. There is no transparency there.”
The CAQ believes the Marois government is deliberately holding on to the information, waiting to hand out election goodies.
“We’re in a minority government situation and there is an electoral agenda,” said CAQ MNA Éric Caire.
Bédard promised to table a bill this Spring in which he’ll propose that the list of projects be made public every year. He said he hopes opposition parties will collaborate and help adopt the bill in June.
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