For the past few days, while the fires have calmed down a little, the urgency would now be, according to government representatives, to allow access to the forests as quickly as possible. Companies want to get their hands on the wood which, although charred, can still be exploited. “Time is running out,” said Minister François Bonnardel on our tax radio. He says he understands logging companies are in such a rush to gain access to devastated areas. The slow process of decomposition of wood, its disintegration in the peaceful cycle of returning to life, hardly seems to matter in the equation.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Forests has just tabled her new “strategic plan”. Under a green veil, its desire to further favor forestry and mining companies appears clear. It is now a question, according to the ministry, of convincing the local and indigenous communities of the merits of such a rush towards exploitation, without questioning themselves too much.
“Allowable cuts”, that is to say the exploitation of all species combined, go from 34.2 million cubic meters of wood cut per year, for the period of 2019-2023, to 34.9 million for 2023-2027. Even if nature itself generates only 20 million cubic meters, it is enough to replant, it seems, to get there. However, a good part of the flora and fauna does not grow back…
At the same time, in parallel, nearly 300,000 mining claims are now registered, observes the ministry.
While the political parties continue to fret over possible “foreign interference” in politics, no one seems too worried about a proven fact: the public forest is more than ever subject to the interests of companies established in Netherlands, Malaysia, the British Virgin Islands and China, as shown by a major international journalistic investigation entitled “Deforestation Inc.”.
Criticizing deforestation and forest exploitation in the Amazon or even pointing the finger at mining operations in Africa, secretly controlled by Russians, North Americans or Chinese, always turns out to be easier than watching this which, for years, has passed under our noses, at home.
We have, for no reason, a very curious way of planning our future on earth. Do you think the situation will change when Formula 1 cars run, as they promise, on biofuels?
Michael Sabia, in an interview with Radio-Canada, reminded Patrice Roy of having already sat on at least one board of directors along with Pierre Fitzgibbon, the all-powerful Minister of Numbers to whom he partly owes his appointment to the head of Hydro-Quebec. Was it at the same time when Mr. Sabia, then president of the Caisse de depot et placement, was staying as if nothing had happened, with all his family, in Sagard, the quasi-feudal kingdom of finance baron Paul Desmarais? ?
Still, in this interview with the Crown corporation, Michael Sabia indicated that no door was closed in terms of nuclear power in Quebec. For his part, Pierre Fitzgibbon quickly indicated that nuclear power is not present in Quebec for the moment, while specifying that he left the door open. “Could we ever consider it?” Obviously, his answer is yes.
In a press scrum, Mr. Fitzgibbon added that he had had recent exchanges with his counterpart in Ontario. This province, to which the Legault government likes to compare itself so much, relies on nuclear power to produce half of its electricity. Nuclear rather enchants Mr. Fitzgibbon. “Intellectually yes, he says, but today, in Quebec, we are not there. There is no nuclear project in Quebec. This man who likes to disguise himself as an Austrian aristocrat to hunt pheasants has already let it be known that he is sensitive to nuclear developments in France. He is one of those who affirm, without laughing, that nuclear power has a low carbon footprint, turning a blind eye to all that it implies.
The leaders of SNC-Lavalin have just defended, in the pages of the Globe and Mail, the importance for Ontario of acquiring additional nuclear capacity, under the pretext of promoting “decarbonization”. Building nuclear reactors would be, according to them, a green imperative. Big deal: they would produce “zero emissions”. Of course, SNC-Lavalin offers itself as the prime contractor for such a pretty “transition”.
Over time, the momentum and commercial reversals of engineering firms are often astonishing. By chance, in the pages of the same daily, there is also talk these days of the setbacks of Saadi Gaddafi in Canada. The son of the former Libyan dictator had grown rich thanks to bribes paid by SNC-Lavalin. But in recent years, even in Loucedé, the poor cannot sell their rich apartment in Toronto.
Ontario is not at war. In a way, nuclear power still is. Because there is no formal distinction between the effects of military nuclear radiation and those from civilian power plants. With nuclear power, we are still a short distance from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whatever the fine minds say. After the devastating accidents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and approaching an increasingly probable catastrophe in Zaporijjia, how not to become aware of it?
According to available indications, the only nuclear power plant in Quebec, Gentilly II, which has been closed for years, will not be able to be dismantled, despite all the money that has flowed into it, before 2062. And the radioactive fuel residues will not disappear. not for much longer.
What are the words, after all, to say it? Here, you see, the quality of the ambient air is not improving.