Interview with Claude Belzil

Claude Belzil, clerk [00:00] I would walk around with my camera during my lunch break to take pictures of the site with the city of Montreal in the background. In the winter you could see the ice, the river moving, and this huge construction site just across the street from Montreal. I was always very impressed by that. What interested me also was the expertise of the technicians working there. There were people there that knew things that to me were just … [sic]. I realized that these people already knew each other. They were working on many construction sites, like Manic and other hydroelectric projects where they had developed a lot of their expertise. You would bump into these people working on other contracts, talking about other projects where they had worked together. Back then, maybe I should look this up, but if I remember correctly, they said that for projects like that, on those types of construction sites, security was usually tripled. In cases like these, they said, the developers multiplied by seven their protection against any type of undue outside influence. [01:10]

Narrator [01:10] The trench under the seaway that will receive the seven tunnel components was dug using Hydro-Quebec’s dredger. This trench is 37 metres wide, and 28 metres deep at its base. When construction of the components is completed, watertight partitions will be installed at each end, before the dry dock is flooded. [01:34]

Claude Belzil, clerk [01:34] I remember the moment they flooded the dry dock very well. I remember this feeling of uncertainty in the air. People were wondering if this would float once the dock filled up seeing as just one of these weighed thousands of tons. Then I came in one morning and people were saying: “It floats, but only about a couple of inches.” There was a mix of satisfaction and concern there. This was the whole stake of the project right there. So these are some of the things I remember about it. [02:17]