Failing to withdraw former Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon’s Bill 69 on energy, Christine Fréchette has a duty to listen to all sectors of civil society, says Québec solidaire (QS), which is demanding that the government invite around fifteen additional groups to speak before a parliamentary committee in the coming weeks.
On the eve of the start of the study of the bill “ensuring responsible governance of energy resources and amending various legislative provisions”, Solidarity MP Haroun Bouazzi is surprised that a certain number of organizations are not on the agenda of the special consultations surrounding the legislative text: off the cuff, he names Greenpeace, Équiterre and the Makivvik company, which represents the Inuit in their relations with Quebec.
“If we are really going to start this commission on Monday, we will invite Mr.me Fréchette to listen to more people, including a certain number of players in civil society who will contribute to informing him a lot about the situation,” said Mr. Bouazzi, QS spokesperson on energy, in an interview with Duty.
Having just been sworn in as Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Christine Fréchette had little time this weekend to study the 60-plus page bill that her predecessor had tabled just before the spring break. “I’m going to arrive prepared,” she said last Thursday from Quebec City.
Very important speakers are expected as early as Tuesday in committee. Hydro-Québec will be the first group to comment on Bill 69, starting at 10 a.m., followed by Énergir. Guests such as the Union des municipalités du Québec, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, the Conseil du patronat du Québec and Nature Québec, among others, will appear in the coming weeks.
Nearly 40 groups
In total, 38 groups are scheduled for a two-week period. But Haroun Bouazzi counted about fifteen more guests who, according to him, deserve their place in front of Minister Fréchette.
“There is the MRC of Mékinac, which is directly affected by TES Canada,” he says, referring to this wind farm project in Mauricie that is to be used to power a “green” hydrogen plant. Bill 69 aims to allow this type of producer to distribute their energy surplus to customers located “on an adjacent site [à leur] site ». Mr. Bouazzi also gives the example of the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information, which, without appearing before parliamentarians, will submit a memorandum this week in which it estimates the price increase generated by the bill at between 65% and 75%.
“In short, there are a number of players like that that [Mme Fréchette] would benefit from listening,” he said, while again calling for a “national” consultation on Quebec’s energy future. “We calculated that it would add less than a week. And it would also show a change in attitude from the minister,” added the Maurice-Richard representative.
Last Thursday, in caucus in Granby, Mr. Bouazzi’s colleague and QS co-spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, had rightly demanded that François Legault’s government “turn the page on arrogance” in energy matters. According to him, the former “superminister” Fitzgibbon treated Hydro-Québec like an “energy Dollarama.”
“Energy is terribly complicated. It’s our economic future, our social future, it affects all sorts of issues: the territory, ecology, biodiversity,” Mr. Bouazzi stressed in an interview, again calling on Minister Fréchette to take the time necessary to study Bill 69.
Since Pierre Fitzgibbon’s resignation last Wednesday, the three opposition parties have demanded the formal withdrawal of the legislative text. An eventuality that was rejected en bloc by Prime Minister François Legault.