MONTREAL – Structural engineers inspecting an overpass last Thursday were shocked to discover that it was still standing and mildly surprised to find former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe camped out underneath it.
“I thought I’d seen everything: rubble, ruins, truck-swallowing potholes” said Laurent Memmot, the inspection team’s leader, “but this was the first time in my 23-year career that I found a functioning bridge.”
Memmot did not immediately identify Duceppe. “He looks completely different without his hair net on.”
Duceppe initially camped out under the Honoré Mercier Bridge until its gussets were found to be completely rusted in June 2011. For the next month, he lived in the Ville Marie Tunnel – until a concrete panel fell off its roof. He was living under the Champlain bridge until a hole opened up in May.
“All I need is protection from the elements,” Duceppe told Memmot, “which this bridge offers.”
Duceppe claims his current bridge represents the promise of a Québécois nation: “strong, government-operated, and resilient enough to withstand being run over by anglophones on a daily basis.”
Duceppe hopes that one day other like-minded Quebecers will join the shanty town he has been constructing below the bridge, which is composed of old election signs and the 2011 Official BQ Party Platform.
When told the bridge was partially funded by the Economic Action Plan, Duceppe asked if it was safe to live under the Olympic’s Stadium’s roof.
