'Build it and they come': Environmental groups back Caisse's light rail project

A group of environmental groups has come out in favour of the light rail project planned for Montreal, despite a scathing critique from the province's environmental review agency.

quiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation and Vivre en Villejoined forces in support of the project.

"'Build it and they come' is usually what happens," StephenGuilbeault, co-founder of quiterre, said Wednesday.

He said the bottom line is the project would take cars off the road.

"We're seeing it with the subway, the express buses that are at full capacity at morning and night. People want public transit."

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The show of support comes afterProjet Montral, the Official Opposition at City Hall, calledfor increased scrutiny of the project, which would include 27 stationsconnecting the South Shore, the West Island andTrudeauairport to downtown.

Quebec's pension fund, the Caisse de dpt et placement du Qubec, is spearheadingthe project and has committed $3 billion tobuildthe 67-kilometre light-rail transit system(LRT).

The balance of the projected cost, about $2.9 billion, is expected to come from the federal and provincial governments.

Questions of transparency

Last month, Quebec'senvironmental review agency known by its French acronym,BAPE issued a 300-pagereportthat called several aspects of the light-rail project into question.

The BAPEconcluded thedocumentation for the project is incomplete, and "several essential elements of the project were not subject to public debate and unable to be analyzed."

The Caissesubsidiary leading the project,CDPQInfra, issued a lengthy rebuttal of the BAPE's review, saying in a statement that it "ignores facts and distorts reality."

Theimportance of the BAPE review was also downplayed by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and Premier Philippe Couillard.

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