If elected, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party of Canada would favor the construction of new hydroelectric dams in Quebec and the extraction of critical minerals to encourage the energy transition.
This is what the Conservative leader said on Monday afternoon during a press briefing held in a complex on Metcalfe Street, in downtown Montreal, during a mini -Quebec tour.
At the same time, the Premier of Quebec François Legault began his meetings with representatives of the four opposition parties to discuss the “challenges of the electrification of Quebec”, in the wake of the announcement of the unexpected resignation of the CEO of Hydro-Quebec, Sophie Brochu.
Last fall, a very public dispute between Mme Brochu and the CAQ minister Pierre Fitzgibbon had highlighted the questions of the energy future of the state-owned company. More broadly, it is the production of hydroelectricity and industrial development in Quebec that is in question.
For Pierre Poilievre, “we must make the approval of these projects easier and faster to produce batteries and to provide hydroelectricity in sufficient quantity to power electric vehicles when they will be the norm on our roads”, he decided on Monday.
“I met a businessman who told me he needed 300 permits to open a lithium mine here in Canada: if it takes 10 to 30 years to open such a mine here, but only two or three years elsewhere, we will depend on other countries to meet our mineral needs,” illustrated Pierre Poilievre at a press conference.
A Conservative federal government would reduce bureaucracy and “red tape” imposed on businesses to make them more productive, Poilievre said.
Asked whether by reducing bureaucracy, he intended to reduce the requirements for environmental studies for certain projects, the Conservative leader said he wanted to imitate other countries that respect the environment, but faster, than he has however not named.
“You can protect the environment while making decisions more quickly,” he argued. We can protect the environment without taking 25 years to study. What more do we learn, in 25 years of study, that we don’t know after the first two or three years of the process? »
Courting Quebec
Quebec is the province where the CCP is least popular. In fact, according to a Léger poll from last December, only 19% of Quebecers intend to vote for him in a future election. By comparison, elsewhere in the country, this rate goes from 30% in the Atlantic provinces to 47% in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with an average of 26% of voting intentions.
Mr. Poilievre took advantage of his speech to recall three promises that his party undertakes to respect if it is brought to power.
He first proposes a “law of $1 for $1”, where all government expenditure must be followed by savings in the state apparatus. “Canadians are suffering, we are facing one of the highest inflation rates in 40 years,” he said.
The Conservative leader has also promised to “make work pay” rather than punishing it, in particular by reducing taxes and various government programs. “We have to stop punishing the work of Quebeckers like the Trudeau government is doing by increasing taxes,” insisted Mr. Poilievre. Rather, it should be rewarded. »
Finally, a federal Conservative government would recognize the skills of foreign health workers within 60 days, in order to unclog the health system, promised Mr. Poilievre.
“Only 43% of immigrant doctors and 37% of immigrant nurses are allowed to practice their profession,” said Poilievre. For these candidates, training costs don’t even enter the equation. It would be enough to certify their skills on the basis of what they are able to accomplish, all in 60 days, rather than relying on their country of origin. »
In the same breath, he would like the recognition of prior learning program to be accessible to candidates even before they arrive in Canada, in order to shorten the process as much as possible. His government would also undertake to support 34,000 loans for just as many immigrants established in the country so that they can resume their studies to meet Canadian standards.
In addition to hiring more doctors and nurses, the Conservative leader is also proposing, to relieve the health care system, to reduce waiting lists and speed up Canadian approval of cutting-edge treatments proven in other industrialized countries.
After Montreal, Mr. Poilievre will travel to Trois-Rivières and Quebec.
With Marie-Eve Martel, The Canadian Press
Pierre Poilievre denies having approached the CAQ
Pierre Poilievre denied during the press conference having met the Minister of Finance Éric Girard or the Deputy Premier of Quebec, Geneviève Guilbault.
This information had been reported by the political columnist of the Toronto Star Chantal Hébert, who also discussed the issue on Radio-Canada’s Tout un matin program.
According to its sources, the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) wants to unearth a candidate in Quebec who would allow it to get closer and arouse the interest of voters in the province.