freeland chrystia

Chrystia Freeland made the right decision.

In addition to leaving her position as Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland confirmed her disagreement with Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau over the election gifts of the two-month GST holiday and the $250 cheque to Canadians, even the wealthiest.

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For those who still doubted it, the current Liberal government no longer has any credibility or legitimacy to govern our country.

As more and more ministers leave the sinking ship, two other shock waves have hit this moribund and incompetent government that is clinging to power thanks to the opportunism and cynicism of the New Democratic Party.

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Vidéo Pont Alexandra

Vidéo - Projet de remplacement du pont Alexandra

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View of the Alexandra Bridge from Ottawa, Summer 2007.  Credit: NCC

The Alexandra Bridge, a heritage landmark in the Capital Region for over 120 years, is due to be replaced over the next few years.

It is a national landmark, recognized for its iconic beauty. It was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Site by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering in 1995.

Voices have been raised in support of preserving the special character of this structure, and the National Capital Commission, which is in the planning stage, has been engaged in a consultation exercise since autumn 2020.

On October 1, 2024, the National Capital Commission (NCC) unveiled three concepts for the replacement of the Alexandra Bridge. None of them involve keeping the existing bridge by renovating it.

In 2018, a life-cycle cost analysis determined that replacing the bridge would be less disruptive to the public than trying to retain the existing bridge, and that it would also be more cost-effective.

It's this point that's worrying, especially as there's still no political consensus on the issue among the region's Liberal MPs. The risk of "budget" competition between the Alexandra Bridge replacement project and the construction of a controversial sixth link in eastern Gatineau is real and should not be underestimated.

To follow the project's progress, I invite you to consult the Alexandra Bridge Replacement website, offered by the National Capital Commission (NCC), at the following address:

https://ccn-ncc.gc.ca/projets/remplacement-du-pont-alexandra

You are also invited to take part in the survey below.

pont alexandra CCN

A historic image of the Alexandra Bridge showing horse-drawn carriages crossing the east side of the bridge, circa 1900. Credit: LAC/Topley/PA-009430

maude marquis bissonnette

A long "unsaid" no to the sixth bridge!

In politics, to say no is to commit suicide. So we avoid saying it. Instead, it's "unsaid".
Political skating, in the jargon of the milieu.

Yesterday, Gatineau mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette skated a beat in her comments on the federal government's announcement of a sixth bridge in eastern Gatineau. MP Steven MacKinnon's bridge.

Rarely have we heard such a long "unsaid", worthy of a quadruple axel in figure skating.
What exactly did she say? I quote from Le Droit.

"The City will have the opportunity to take part in future public consultations (...) to see how the project would fit into the neighbourhoods, but it's not a municipal project (...) it's really a federal project (...) Now we'll see what the studies say (...) We'll let them do their studies, their planning phases (...) We know that when you add roads, you add vehicles, so you don't solve the congestion problem".

Action Gatineau, the mayor municipal party, has never been in favor of the sixth bridge.
And neither the mayors of Gatineau nor Ottawa were in favor of the project when Mr. MacKinnon put it forward.

The project would cost over $2 billion, and most transportation experts agree that this type of infrastructure cannot solve traffic congestion problems.

 

History of Alexandra Bridge

  • 1898–1900: Construction of the Alexandra Bridge, the first cantilevered span bridge in Canada, by Canadian engineers and designers.
  • 1901: The bridge is completed.
  • 1995: The bridge is designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Site by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.
  • 2010: A heritage value assessment rates the bridge as an engineering asset of national historic importance.
  • 2017: The bridge is included on the City of Ottawa’s Heritage Register for its cultural heritage value or interest.
  • 2018: A life cycle cost analysis determines that replacing the bridge would be less disruptive to the public than trying to maintain the existing bridge, and would also be more cost-effective.
  • 2019: The Government of Canada directs that the bridge be replaced within 10 years.
  • 2019: Pre-planning for a replacement bridge begins.
  • 2021: The bridge is added to the National Trust for Canada’s Endangered Places List.

Source : National Capital Commission