To respond to criticism of the Northvolt project, François Legault appeared before journalists with fruit in his hands on Wednesday. Pierre Fitzgibbon affirms that the chosen land “is not the Garden of Eden”.
The Prime Minister was in the mood to joke, after having been closely followed on the file of the future battery factory during the question period, at the Blue Room.
“We must not mix, in the Northvolt file, a real estate project with an industrial project. We must not mix apples with oranges or bananas,” declared François Legault as he passed in front of journalists (see video above).
The CAQ government had to react to revelations from Radio-Canada, according to which scientific arguments present in an analysis which led to the rejection of a real estate project on the same site in the spring of 2023 had disappeared during the study of the Northvolt project in January 2024.
The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, himself used a strong image to remind us that it is a former industrial site.
“This is not the Garden of Eden, this, where Adam and Eve bit the apple,” he illustrated. This is land that was contaminated. This is land that was left to [lui] for years. Talk to people in Saint-Basile, McMasterville. It’s land that was forgotten.”
“The real estate project was on wetlands, it was refused because it [le promoteur immobilier] didn’t move. Northvolt is not on the wetlands in question. So, on the contrary, Northvolt respects the environment, respects the standards,” argued Minister Fitzgibbon.