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Since, several projects have been announced : development of the Voisey's Bay project in Labrador (2.9 B$), the biggest nickel deposit in the world with reserves already shown to be worth more than 60 B$; the construction of the Toulnoustouc dam (1 B$); enlargement of the aluminium plant Alcoa in Baie-Comeau (1B$) and the aluminium plant Alouette in Seven Islands (1.5 B$); construction work and upgrading of the pellet plant of IOC, the iron ore company in Seven Islands (1 G$); enlargement of the Quebec Cartier iron mine in Fermont (350 M$); the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec have announced their intention to accelerate the process leading to the construction of dams on the Lower Churchill River (6.8 B$) and finally, Hydro Quebec foresees investments of 10 B$ for harnessing La Romaine and Petit Mécantina Rivers. Overall, investments of over 26 B$ are already foreseen in the Canadian Northeast while the door to this vast region is inevitably closing at Tadoussac.
To these announcements and projects is added an investment of more than 500 M$ in the road network of Labrador to link Labrador City to HappyValley-Goose Bay and to Blanc Sablon. The completion of the road network in Labrador will progressively bring an increase in the number of road trips by the 20,000 people of Labrador towards large Canadian cities via the highway 138 and the Saguenay ferry at Tadoussac.
Effects on the quality of life and social fabric (strategic labour force, youth, retired people) The quality of life in a remote region without railway service to large cities depends essentially on the quality of its road network and today, in a marginal way, on its air transport network. In the present context, with traffic increasing and thus an intensification of the funnel effect at the Saguenay ferry, the multiplication of the effects on the smoothness of traffic flow associated with the exceptional danger of the funnel section make using the highway more and more hazardous and insecure. This phenomenon is known to all people on the North Shore and has the effect of limiting travel to only the essential, thus limiting economic activity.
A safe road with smooth traffic flair in used allows: Students who wish to pursue higher studies have to travel to central Canadian cities by road; air travel being too expensive and railway service non existent. A solution to the problems of safety and traffic flow at the approaches to the Saguenay will allow these young people to travel and see their families more often, thus maintaining their integration in the regional social fabric. This would increase the probability of their returning to their communities. The strategic labour force to consolidate its presence in the region, increasing in this way the competitiveness and performance of regional businesses. By doing this, we favour the emergence of avant garde entrepreneurship leading to the possibility of the additional jobs needed for young people to return to their region. Retired people to continue living in their community while knowing that they will find the health services needed and that specialized services will be available by using a safe road with smooth flowing traffic. Their investments can be concentrated in the region close to the youngest of their families, encouraging in this way the creation of wealth and jobs.
The disappearance of the ferry boats would allow big businesses and others to improve their competitiveness in continental markets by reducing their access time to the mainland (about 90 minutes for a return trip according to wood industrialists)2 and the hazardous delays due to the ferry boat services. These are presently weakened by the unpredictable delays and dangers of the road network which add to the already exceptional remoteness when compared to their competitors. Transport costs are increased by delays in waiting at the ferry and this reduces accordingly the profit margin of the businesses in the region. In this context, a bridge would generate better opportunities for job creation. The construction of a bridge over the Saguenay River would allow the reconstruction of the social and economic fabric of the region and this to be followed by the rapid construction of this territory, newly oxygenated by a safe roadwork where traffic flows smoothly.
The loss of jobs linked to the ferry service and the increase in distance to travel to villages using the new path of the 138 are legitimate worries in the communities from Tadoussac to Baie St. Catherine which should be relieved through mitigation measures. The maintenance required for the bridge infrastructure alone could be used to convert a part of actual jobs on the ferries. Whatever options are chosen, the maintenance and improvement of the economic activity in the communities of Baie St. Catherine and Tadoussac remain a priority in the construction project.
The benefits for the residents and visitors in Tadoussac and Baie St. Catherine can be measured by the disappearance of noise, vibrations, odours, dust and road dangers coming from the increased amount of traffic circulating in each village and the disappearance of noise and pollution linked to the activities of the ferry boats themselves (foghorn, horns honking, metallic noise from vehicles when they drive over the access ramps, etc.). The quality of life of residents and visitors will be greatly improved by a bridge which would free the heart of the two villages for more peaceful tourist activity. Moreover, the construction of such a monumental infrastructure, the longest suspension bridge in the Americas, could itself become a destination or at least an attraction for tourists. It could enhance tourist activities and encourage tourist based businesses to increase their welcoming projects thus leading to more job opportunities (examples : the Confederation Bridge of Prince Edward Island; the Golden Gate Bridge of California, USA).
In fact, the people of the North Shore and Labrador know the importance of a road link connecting them to the rest of the continent and share the point of view of those of the political world who have a real vision of the future for the region, their provinces and the country. Several places in the world reflect the benefits of combining human genius and exceptional sites. The example of the "Golden Gate" Bridge in San Francisco, of its major impact on the economic development of the area, of its beauty in an exceptional landscape remind us that the advancement of a country is done through a vision of the future.
Considering the high increase in actual costs of the ferry service, its growing negative impacts on the smoothness of traffic flow and the safety of the road link and on the competitiveness of businesses in the Canadian Northeast, here is a "world class" opportunity to open up the Canadian Northeast to the rest of the continent, bring about long-term economic growth while at the same time creating an appealing and exceptional tourist attraction for at least the next 100 years which is the minimum lifespan of the bridge planned for over the Saguenay River. |
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© Copyright 2003 - The Society for a Bridge over the Saguenay |
What's at stake: A vision of the future
At a time when the illusion of a new economy and its virtual wealth is dimming, (technology stocks bubble) to the advantage
of a renewal in the interest of tangible wealth, at a time when California, the richest, most technologically advanced American
state is heading for financial and social chaos following the bursting of its stock market bubble of technological businesses
The scale of the investments in a region larger than France requires the maintenance of a road network that is safe and
has smooth flowing traffic, in as much as there is no railway alternative. Despite the absence of prisoners, the old "Siberian"
model of the development of a region where sites for the extraction of resources are transformed into work camps where workers
and sometimes their families are just "passing through", is unsuited to the socioeconomic realities of the region. The time
when big business maintained its work force prisoner on the work site is past. Today, communities of the region wish to preserve
a stimulating and interesting socioeconomic environment for the generations to come. The pre-requisite of road accessibility is
fundamental in our region. 
The regional tourist industry, actually stagnant because its peak period corresponds to the saturation period of the ferries,
could receive the influx of tourists who are actually transformed by the neighbouring regions into cruise boat tourists who come
to Tadoussac for an hour or two and return to their region. For example, the Tourism Ministry of Prince Edward Island informed
us that following the completion of the Confederation Bridge in 1997, the number of tourists increased to 64%, their expenditures
to 68% and these figures have been maintained year after year since the construction of the bridge. The potential for growth in
the tourist industry can thus be measured for all the region of Northeast Canada. Without waiting or excessive danger, the world
wide tourist industry can only be interested in this new Eldorado which is the Canadian Far East (Labrador and the North Shore),
from which jobs for the region would increase.
The use of ferry boats to cross Quebec rivers is a means of transport of bygone days. Today, the engineers of the firm
SNC-Lavalin which is responsible for the impact study presently in progress, assure us that in the actual state of their
science, the construction of a bridge over the Saguenay River does not represent any particular technological challenge.
The environmentalists remind us of the exceptional beauty of the site; something the people of the North Shore and
Labrador recognize more than anyone. Finally, certain politicians just oriented towards the management of the day to
day finances could be inclined to delay "to the last minute" the inevitable construction of a bridge. To the point
where they could argue about the pure and simple disappearance of the Canadian Northeast region as we know it in
order to establish a "Siberian" model of development. A model where the occupation of the region and the quality
of life of its inhabitants would be abandoned for the creation of work camps which would be maintained for the
benefit of a few large resource extracting industries, like at the beginning of the last century. 
