Former premier confirmed as head of Laval overpass inquiry

A former Quebec premier will head the inquiry into the fatal collapse of a Laval highway overpass, despite the objections of major political figures in the province.

The nomination of Pierre Marc Johnson, who was chosen by Premier Jean Charest to steer the inquiry into the disaster, was accepted by Quebec's cabinet on Tuesday.

Johnson said Tuesday the province's past and current transportation policies will be scrutinized during the inquiry.''We have a specific mandate to look into this incident, but if we should go into broader aspects, and if the causes lead us to got into broader aspects, then we won't hesitate," he said.

The inquiry's mandate is to determine the chain of events that led to the collapse of the structure, which killed five people and injured six.

The former Parti Qubcois premier will be backed by two former presidents of the Quebec Order of Engineers, Armand Couture and Roger Nicolet, the government announced on Tuesday. Johnson will meet with the two engineers on Wednesday to assemble their team of investigators.

Controversial choice

Despite the cabinet's endorsement, Johnson's role as the inquiry's steward continues to raise eyebrows among Quebec's political elite.

Former PQ premier Bernard Landry said Tuesday that while Johnson is competent and a man of integrity, he will be forced to review policies that were enacted during both hisshort tenure as Quebec's premier in the mid-1980s andhis long stint as a member of the national assembly, which may make him an inappropriate choice to head the investigation.

"He will have to judge 30 years of government action, and maybe more. Yet he was part of the government during part of that time. I think my objection is [valid]," Landry said.

On Monday, current PQ Leader Andr Boisclair voiced his own reservations.

"Obviously, Mr. Johnson is capable of being independent. But in appearance, he was too closely associated to the Parti Qubcois, as a former leader of the Parti Qubcois," Boisclair said.

Dumont critical

Mario Dumont, leader of the Action Dmocratique du Qubec (ADQ), suggested on Saturday that putting a former premier in charge of the probe may make the exercise more difficult.

"There's the scientific aspect of what happened Then we have to go further, to transportation policy, budgetary policies of governments, not just this Liberal government's [decisions] for the past three years, but others over a much longer period of time," Dumont said.

The inquiry's report is due by March 31 2007, at which point the investigators will present their recommendations to the government.