The Legault government now has an action plan to protect and develop Quebec’s water, but does not know when the industry will be able to finance it in full, as planned.
The Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, officially submitted his new National Water Plan on Tuesday.
Accompanied by seven major orientations, it provides for investments of $500 million, which had already been announced by Prime Minister François Legault at the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) in December 2022.
The action plan measures—there are about forty of them—will be partially financed by royalties paid since January into the new “Blue Fund.” These rates, paid by companies that use water from Quebec’s lakes and rivers, were increased by 900% in 2023, when Minister Charette amended the law with the goal of ultimately “self-financing” the protection of blue gold in Quebec territory.
Currently, it is projected that about 30% to 35% of the National Water Plan will be funded by royalties, according to calculations by the environment minister’s team. The rest of the money is portfolio spending.
But when asked Tuesday when he expected his Blue Fund to become self-sustaining, Charette was unable to answer. “I couldn’t tell you,” he agreed.
“We committed through the bill to review the royalties on a periodic basis. So, at the next review, there will probably be another significant increase, and that is when the Fund will increasingly become self-financing. But there is no date at this time,” he added.
The next review of royalties paid to the Blue Fund by the industry is scheduled for early 2029.
Further details will follow.