‘I should have specified’ road funding remarks, Guilbeault tells MPs

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says he should’ve “specified” his remarks on federal road funding when he made them, MPs heard Thursday.

Guilbeault faced questioning by members of the House of Commons transport committee over his controversial Feb. 12 comments that Ottawa would “stop investing in new road infrastructure.”

He would later clarify his remarks after criticism, which continues to dog him.

“In fact, what I’ve said several times, and I will repeat it here for the committee: I should have specified that these comments were made in the context of the Third Link in Quebec City,” he said in French.

“I think many people understand that my comments were related to that project in Quebec,” he said later in English.

The Quebec project Guilbeault is referring to is the Trosième Lien – a highway tunnel connecting Quebec City to Lévis.

Guilbeault referenced that project when he initially clarified his remarks in Ottawa on Feb. 14.

Those remarks came from quotes published in the Montreal Gazette last month. Guilbeault told a crowd in the city on Feb. 12 that Ottawa won’t be funding any projects that “enlarge the road network.”

“The analysis we have done is that the network is perfectly adequate to respond to the needs we have,” he said.

Conservative transport critic Mark Strahl had called Guilbeault’s comments “outrageous,” and was among the signatories of a letter requesting that he explain his comments at the committee.

Housing and Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser and Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez were also summoned, and appeared Thursday.

Liberal MP Chris Bittle, who is parliamentary secretary to Fraser, said he was “surprised” the Bloc and NDP would support the Tories in summoning the trio at a Feb. 21 meeting.

“We