(Quebec) François Legault is concerned about protests against certain large industrial projects to develop the green economy in Quebec. “We need to change our attitude,” he pleads, a few days after a demonstration was held to demand that the Northvolt mega-factory project be subject to review by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE).
In a press briefing in Quebec, the Prime Minister said that business leaders do not understand what is happening in Quebec. On Sunday, around a hundred citizens demonstrated in McMasterville, on the South Shore of Montreal, affirming that too many questions remain unanswered regarding the battery factory project in which public aid could exceed 7 billion.
” It’s worrying. If we want to be able to meet the major challenges, eliminate GHGs, invest more in health and education to provide better services, and continue to put money back into the wallets of Quebecers, we will have to be capable of accepting these major projects,” said Mr. Legault.
“When I watch certain people criticize economic development projects in Quebec without nuance, it makes me sad. I tell myself [qu’avec] With this kind of attitude, we would not be able to create the James Bay that previous governments created,” he added.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Around a hundred citizens demonstrated in McMasterville, on the South Shore of Montreal, affirming that too many questions remain unanswered regarding the battery factory project in which public aid could exceed 7 billion.
Last month, the Superior Court of Quebec rejected the request for a provisional injunction from the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) which aimed to force the company to suspend its work which encroaches on wetlands. In interview at The Pressthe president and CEO of Northvolt in North America, Paolo Cerruti, said he was surprised to have been, according to him, unfairly attacked on the company’s fundamental values.
“This is the first time that we have been attacked in this way on our environmental commitment. Our mission is to accelerate the exit from a society dependent on fossil fuels by wanting to manufacture the greenest battery in the world,” he declared.
For Premier Legault, this type of industrial project is essential for Quebec, in the context where the province wants to eliminate its GHGs by 2050 and wants to reinvest massively in health and education, without having to increase taxes.
“If we want to be able in Quebec to both fight climate change and invest in health and education without increasing taxes, there is just one way to do that and that is to create wealth. It is not an end in itself, but it gives us the means to respond to these three challenges,” said Mr. Legault.
“We have to find ways to save electricity, whether it’s in public transportation, whether it’s energy efficiency, we have to try to consume less electricity. We need to build wind power. But we won’t get out of this. It will take more dams and it will take green economy factories, like Northvolt. Like GM. Like Ford. Like other projects that we currently have on the table,” he added.