As a farmer and owner of farmland, I was invited on April 24 to the meeting held in Saint-Pie by Innergex, a renewable energy producer that wants to install wind turbines in the region. If this meeting got people talking, it is because there are questions to be asked about the business model proposed by the company Innergex.
From the outset, there was a somewhat special atmosphere at this “invitation only” meeting. I felt that as far as we, members of the Brotherhood of Farmers, were concerned, the fact that we were few in number and the hostile attitude of the population around us allowed us to have a particular point of view. In our opinion, the choice of whether or not to welcome a wind turbine on our land is our own business. I feel that there is indeed a gap between us and the population, and that this gulf is about to widen even further.
Some have accused opponents of creating social division. However, social division is intrinsic to this business model, which consists of raiding and offering considerable sums of money before even consulting the population. This model, implemented in full view of the municipalities and the MRC, will only make the situation worse.
I have trouble understanding all the effort and hours of work that the elected officials of the MRC invested in developing an interim control regulation (RCI) knowing that the social component of sustainable development was completely ignored. Worse, the RCI is an implicit acceptance of the Innergex project and worsens the division that is corroding communities. When things go badly, if there is no social cohesion, we immediately fall into a period of crisis.
Why all the haste? Innergex’s short-term financial interests seem to be banking on this social division. A pause is needed to give the public time to be well informed. In addition, Bill 69 on the responsible governance of energy resources has been tabled in the National Assembly. A moratorium would allow the public to learn the new rules of the game.
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