Metro excavation contracts grabbed by one outfit
One consortium has grabbed all the tunnel excavation contracts for the blue line extension. But is this shady, or is it simply because only the group led by Pomerleau has the equipment and expertise necessary for such a massive job?
Ephraim 10:53 on 2025-08-02 Permalink
Buy Quebec clause limits who can bid. Which is why the REM was built by the CDPQ
Nicholas 14:10 on 2025-08-02 Permalink
Not exactly, Ephraim. Couillard mandated the creation of CDPQ Infra specifically to create a transit project on the Champlain and in the West Island. It’s not that Quebec companies were the only ones who could bid; it was the government gave this government arm the sole mandate to conceive of this project. It’s like Montreal giving the parking bureau the mandate to create a bike share. No one else, Quebec or not, could bid.
And the engineering and construction were not done by CDPQ, they put that out to bid. The winner was SNC-Lavalin, joint with companies from Spain, ROC and the US (plus Pomerleau) and the only other qualified bidder was an American company, joint with a Montreal company (that’s mostly British and American, just a reverse merger to save on taxes). Ops were a mix of bids, but there was always a Canadian company involved.
I agree that our contracting here is not best practices, though, and we need some major changes to get costs under control.