Last week, Hydro-Quebec CEO Sophie Brochu announced she would be leaving the company in April after three years at its helm. For less than 24 hours, François Legault and his superminister Pierre Fitzgibbon praised Mme Brochu then moved on to something else, such as his estate, to reassure the rating agencies and to ensure that the thread of the story unfolds smoothly. As if the resignation of one of Quebec’s most powerful women from a quasi-sacred institution was just a minor hitch in the quiet thread of the national narrative.
Yet we all have the nagging impression that not everything has been said; that the news broke in the public space, moved to the media, but that it must have stirred in the offices of power, behind closed doors.
That we witnessed the final and flamboyant episode of a power struggle between two titans, clash between two opposing visions of what Hydro should become. Since we will know nothing more from the protagonists of this spectacular affair which concerns us since the future of a flagship institution of the Quebec state is at stake, let us try to fill in the blanks by resorting to image analysis of the three main players: Mme Brochu, M. Fitzgibbon, and Hydro-Quebec.
Sophie Brochu, 59, is a woman of head and heart who, for several years, has been on the list of the most influential people in Quebec. She has spent a large part of her professional life in the private sector, where she managed Gaz Métro/Énergir with skill and vision. Trained as an economist, she dabbled in theater at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Québec. His social involvement is constant; she co-founded La Ruelle de l’avenir, which prevents school dropouts in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. She has strong networks, is appreciated for her uprightness and loyalty to her values. She shattered the glass ceiling a long time ago, but did not make it an end. It has the financial means to assume its positions. His project was to bring Hydro to the energy transition of Quebec. Her exit will have been elegant: she kept all the doors open. We will tear it off in CAs and in management positions, if she wishes.
Pierre Fitzgibbon, 68, also a wealthy independent, is a personal friend of the PM. A businessman, he leads the way as Superminister of the Economy, Environment and Energy, and Minister responsible for Regional Development. He has been the subject of six investigations by the Ethics Commissioner, including one that removed him from the firm in June 2021. Stainless, he continues to hunt pheasants in ceremonial dress with his billionaire friends, wearing the concept of boy club on another level. This revelation struck the imagination last fall, because this image of an untouchable wealthy breaks with the good-natured and “ordinary” side of the Legault cabinet. Its goal is to use Hydro-Quebec and our precious clean energy as bait to attract energy-intensive companies to Quebec, all against the backdrop of the government’s abolition of the company Transition Énergie Québec.
The mysterious Fitzgibbon now has free rein to realize his fantasy: closing our wealth gap with Ontario.
The third player is Hydro-Québec, the symbol of modern Quebec, the state within the state. Quebecers have an ambiguous relationship with Hydro: pride/distrust. Opaque in its management, but virtuous on an international scale. Even the show I love Hydro, by Christine Beaulieu, is half-reverent, half-critical. Hydro is part of our daily lives, but it’s also a giant with questionable management. Hydro heats us up, but flickers as soon as the wind picks up. You never know who is leading, today less than ever, or what their future plan is in a world where Quebec’s climate governance is pressing.
Three images: those of two great servants of the State who have the means to do other things, but who devote themselves (or were devoting) to the common good, and of a society key to the national identity. Three destinies at the turning point of their history, of our history, since it is about the positioning of Quebec for the next and crucial years.
Sophie Brochu has won: integrity, freedom, future offers, and a future that she wants to be useful, given her career.
Pierre Fitzgibbon won. His vision of Hydro will triumph, and that of Quebec following it.
Hydro-Québec has lost: a high-calibre leader, and a certain responsible vision for the future. And certainly a little bit of affection from its shareholders; the Quebecois…