Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, September 1, 2011 – The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), and Ms. Johanne Gonthier, Member of the National Assembly for Mégantic-Compton and Parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, on behalf of Mr. Laurent Lessard, Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy, together with Ms. Sonia Cloutier, Mayor of the Municipality of Val-Racine, Mr. Jean-Louis Gobeil, Mayor of the Municipality of Notre‑Dame‑des‑Bois, and Mr. Bertrand Prévost, Mayor of Hampden Township, today announced the end of road infrastructure improvements between Val‑Racine, Notre‑Dame‑des‑Bois and Hampden in the Eastern Townships.
This project improved the road infrastructure of Val-Racine, Notre‑Dame‑des‑Bois and Hampden in the Eastern Townships. The work included reshaping more than 11 km of ditches on Franceville rural route; reloading gravel, as well as repaving close to one kilometre in the Parish of Val-Racine. On Chesham rural route, work included the reinforcement of the upper base through the placement of a layer of gravel and asphalt over a distance of approximately seven kilometres, as well as the addition of a lane on the shoulder to create a bicycle path. Finally, on Haricots concession road and Forêt Enchantée Road, the project involved strengthening the ditches along more than a kilometre.
“The rehabilitation of roads in Val-Racine, Notre‑Dame‑des‑Bois and Hampden now offers safer and more accessible road infrastructure to all users, which will enable more pleasant travel and will promote tourism and recreation in the region”
, said Minister Paradis. “The Government of Canada is proud to have contributed to this project, which helped to create jobs and ensure the future growth of this community.”
“Our government is proud to mark the end of road infrastructure improvements in Val‑Racine, Notre‑Dame‑des‑Bois and Hampden for the benefit of citizens and numerous visitors to the region. There is no doubt in my mind that making improvements to the roads in this sector, located on the outskirts of Mont Mégantic national park, will contribute to the economic and social development of the area,”
said Member of the National Assembly Gonthier.
Government representatives took the opportunity to recognize that the governments of Canada and Quebec are jointly contributing up to $2,973,252 to the municipalities of Val-Racine, Notre-Dame-des-Bois and Hampden for this project. With the contribution of $524,691 from the three municipalities, the total investment cost is close to $3.5 million.
The contribution of up to $1,486,626 dollars from the Government of Canada for this project comes from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF), part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan announced in the January 2009 budget. On December 2, 2010, the Government of Canada announced the conditional extension of the construction deadline for a number of Economic Action Plan infrastructure projects.
The Government of Quebec’s contribution of $1,486,626 dollars is being made under the Quebec infrastructure plan, le Plan québécois des infrastructures, which was enhanced in January 2009 and now has an envelope of nearly $42 billion for infrastructure renewal in Quebec over the next five years.
Since 2009, federal funding of over $908 million has been committed to 938 projects under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund in Quebec; most of these projects have been or are almost completed.
Additional Information
For more information on Infrastructure Canada’s investment in infrastructure, visit the following Web sites http://www.creatingjobs.gc.ca and www.infrastructures.gouv.qc.ca.
For more information on the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, visit http://www.actionplan.gc.ca.
For more information on the Plan québécois des infrastructures, visit http://www.tresor.gouv.qc.ca/fr/infrastructure.
Contacts:
Benoît Fortin
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
613-991-0700
Julie Boivin
Press Secretary
Office of the Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy
418-691-2050
Véronique Lachance
Press Secretary
Constituency Office of the Member of the National Assembly for Mégantic-Compton
819-583-0926
Infrastructure Canada
613 948-1148
1-877-250-7154 (toll free)
