Canada’s new infrastructure czar is facing one of his first major challenges as he seeks ways to avoid costly delays on the $3.1-billion Champlain Bridge replacement project in Montreal that is pushing to meet a Dec. 21 completion deadline. A recent report by Canada’s Auditor General said the Signature on the Saint Lawrence consortium, led by SNC-Lavalin Group, Spain-based ACS and Germany’s Hochtief, will likely miss the date, opening it up to fines of up to $300,000 a day and as much as $27 million over the first three months. But team compensation issues also are unsettled, after the new Liberal government in 2015 canceled bridge tolls.
François Philippe Champagne, named minister of infrastructure in a July cabinet shake-up, is exploring ways to speed up the St. Lawrence River span. A Parliament member and Canada’s former trade minister, he also had been senior counsel at ABB Group and strategic development director at AMEC Foster Wheeler. Champagne recently visited the bridge site and huddled with top management and said in a statement after the worksite inspection that he is “impressed by not only the progress of the work but also by the dedication of the workers.”