After the collapse of the viaduct in Montreal I had the pleasure of being interviewed for an early morning radio program and it all fell on Yom Kippur. I thought that was relevant. Five people died for no reason at all so that ministers could say that the other bridges are all safe when slabs of concrete fell from the site of the accident hours before and nobody decides to block the road for investigation?
Now that I’ve gotten the city trees in front of my balcony nicely trimmed before the winter, I would like the same care be adopted for the management and improvement of the existing highway network with funds that the city and province have stashed away in their party coffers. The collapse of this viaduct should remind citizens of similar incidents last year and in 2000.
The way highways are constructed; they are given a life span of seventy years according to reports but because of the constant salting which corrodes the steel supports, real testing is needed. The person or persons responsible for the testing of this piece of highway, giving it a seal of approval, should be prosecuted for criminal negligence.
