The Quebec Liberal Party has lost confidence in Northvolt. If it had been in the place of François Legault’s government, the opposition party would have said no to the start-up Swedish to pay its money to “another supplier”.
This was stated Tuesday by Liberal economic critic Frédéric Beauchemin. “They could have gone with LG; they decided to go with a start-up “, he said in front of the parliamentary press. “It is the choice of the [Coalition avenir Québec]. »
Northvolt is experiencing significant financial difficulties. On Monday, the company announced the elimination of no fewer than 1,600 jobs in three cities in Sweden. It assures that its operations in North America, including work on the Northvolt Six plant in Montérégie, will not be affected.
Paying $510 million to Northvolt, as the Legault government has already done — in addition to $200 million from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec — constitutes a “controlled risk,” Economy Minister Christine Fréchette said Monday.
On the contrary, “the risk is extremely high,” Mr. Beauchemin said Tuesday, supported by his interim leader, Marc Tanguay. “I would not have made that choice. Personally, I would have invested in something much more credible, with better experience,” he said.
The day after the announcement of multiple layoffs at Northvolt, the Quebec Parliament could hold an emergency debate on Tuesday on the future of the Swedish company. The President of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy, will decide around 2 p.m. The request for an emergency debate was filed by the Parti Québécois, approximately four and a half years after the last debate of this type, which focused on the rail blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en.
For its part, Québec solidaire is asking that no additional amount be paid into the Montérégie project.
Further details will follow.