The Ministry of Transport's withdrawal from the Route verte maintenance program revealed something that cannot be ignored: the attachment of Quebec's cycling community and municipalities to this major cycling route. Through the many reactions circulated and shared in the media, a number of contributors emphasized the Route verte's contribution to the quality of life of Quebecers and the strength of our tourism industry.
A summit meeting
Given both the tremendous impact of the Route verte and current economic realities, Vélo Québec is taking steps to ensure that a summit meeting can be held in early 2015, bringing together a range of partners involved and interested in the future of the Route verte: partners from the Quebec government, the municipal world, the tourism community and the business community, who would lend each other a hand in finding an innovative short-term solution with a long-term scope, to ensure the Route verte's sustainability.
20 years of effort and eloquent results
Let's not forget that this crazy project to create a Quebec-wide bicycle route was launched in 1995. Its greatest achievement is to have mobilized more than a thousand partners in every region of Quebec, who have invested time, energy and money over the past 20 years. With obvious success, since the Route verte is a well-known tourist attraction beyond our borders, ranked as one of the world's most beautiful cycle routes by the National Geographic Society.
Continuing our action
In the meantime, Vélo Québec will continue to gather support from the various stakeholders interested in finding «The» solution. As an individual, I invite you to let the government know of your support for maintaining Route verte. To this end, we have posted a letter of support and a link to the e-mail addresses of the provincial MNAs. Please click here to forward this letter to your MP.
It is important to pedal together now for the future of Route verte. Thank you for your support.
Suzanne Lareau
President and General Manager
