Transportation, it is known, is the sinews of Quebec’s climate war, and the next government, regardless of who is elected, will have to tackle it head on. A panel on the question of the future of electrified transport which was held in Montreal on Monday morning was an opportunity for the five main parties in the running to stand out. Above all, it will have produced the impression of a certain resignation: the electric car first, and the rest will follow.
It was a great opportunity to score points against the outgoing Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, who represented the CAQ on the small stage of an office in Place Ville Marie, where the sector organization Propulsion Quebec was holding a discussion on the future of this emerging industry in the province.
Despite a few stings about the third Quebec-Lévis road link and the desire to build new hydroelectric dams, two projects dear to the CAQ which are not unanimously accepted by the population, the candidates of the other parties have mainly tried to cajole the spectators , which represented companies from all economic sectors affected by the electric shift in transportation, from energy or natural resource producers to manufacturers of electric vehicles of all kinds.
The theme that caused the most reaction was the difficulty Quebec businesses have in selling their products or services directly to the Quebec government. “Why do we first have to sell in the United States before being able to do so in Quebec? asked a person in the room.
The most concrete response came from Mr. Fitzgibbon, who suggested adding a player in the public supply chain: “We have created a group within Investissement Québec that will look into the issue of access at the Government Procurement Centre,” he said.
From bikes to snowmobiles?
If the electric cars are unanimous, the speed of their putting on the road does not make consensus from one party to another. The CAQ wants 100% of new light vehicles sold to be electric by 2035. The Conservative Party of Quebec seems especially in a hurry to cut ties with certain foreign companies. “We must develop these cars here to get rid of China,” said Konstantinos Merakos, candidate in Chomedey.
The Liberal Party would like to accelerate the sale of electric vehicles in Quebec and is also proposing to electrify all taxis by 2030. The PLQ has already reiterated several times its desire to also develop green hydrogen to decarbonize heavy transport, in particular, which will take time. “The ecological transition will not happen all at once,” said Karl Filion, candidate in Vanier-Les Rivières.
Ruba Ghazal, who represents Québec solidaire in Mercier, would like an electric highway to be created on this side of the American continent (e-highway) similar to the hydrogen highway found in British Columbia and elsewhere on the west coast. QS would also like to see more delivery services like the Montreal-based Colibri project bike deliverers being used in cities and suburbs across the province.
Alexis Gagné-Lebrun, of the Parti Québécois, also praised the contribution of the bicycle to a cocktail of means of transport which should make more room for active urban transport. “We have to see how we can live better in the city thanks to active transportation,” he said.
The CAQ representative, for her part, praised the outgoing government’s three-step strategy: developing charging infrastructure, investing in local industry and helping consumers buy electric vehicles. Cars, more precisely.
A Taiga Motors employee asked Pierre Fitzgibbon if he also intended to help Quebecers buy a snowmobile or even an electric bike, to which he replied that the CAQ preferred to help supply rather than demand in these niches, recalling that Quebec gave Taiga $30 million in July 2021 to help it build its electric snowmobile and personal watercraft manufacturing plant in Shawinigan.