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Discussions on whether to construct light-rail lines on the new Champlain bridge and connecting downtown Montreal to Trudeau airport and the West Island are about to start between the city of Montreal and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, but in secret.

Montreal’s city executive committee passed a resolution on Wednesday approving a confidentiality agreement with the province’s public pension fund manager, which the Quebec government authorized last year to take over the planning for the two light-rail lines from the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT).

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The Caisse has created a subsidiary, CDPQ Infra, to manage the two projects. The projects were the subject of studies carried out by the AMT and the city, and the information in them is confidential, an executive summary accompanying the resolution says. The city had a non-disclosure agreement with the AMT as well, it adds.

The first step in the discussions between the city and CDPQ Infra is a mutual confidentiality agreement before they discuss the results of the studies, the summary says. Signing such an agreement, it says, is normal practice on major projects.

The province has estimated the two transit lines would cost $5 billion.