Horne Foundry | “Not as dramatic” as they say, according to Legault

(Montreal) Just before his departure for Rouyn-Noranda, François Legault minimizes the risks to the health of the population associated with arsenic emissions from the Horne Foundry. “It’s not as dramatic as some people say,” he argued Friday morning, while letting go that he thought the electoral race “would tighten more than that”.

Tommy Chouinard
The Press

During an interview with 98.5 FM, host Paul Arcand questioned the chief caquist about the exit of three doctors, claiming that the situation is not safe and will only be so when the Quebec standard is respected.

“It depends on the definition of security, replied Mr. Legault. I invite everyone in Rouyn-Noranda to read the Public Health report. It’s not as dramatic as some say,” he replied.

According to him, “it is up to the people of Rouyn-Noranda, it is not up to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and not up to us, to say what is happening with the Horne Foundry”.

“There is a decision to be made by the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda, because we were talking about mental health earlier… Tomorrow morning, if 650 employees, and we are talking about thousands if we add indirect jobs, who are losing their jobs, there are consequences too. »

Quebec recently decided to ask the foundry of the multinational Glencore to reach, within five years, an annual average of 15 nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter of air – it is all the same five times higher than the Quebec standard. It had so far been authorized to release into the air up to 100 nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter.

François Legault takes up the arguments of the company which pleads, as he himself recalled, that “it is not feasible in the short term to go down to three nanograms”.

During the interview, François Legault also claimed that the election campaign is going better than expected for him. “I thought it would tighten more than that,” he said, pointing out that for the first time he has four opponents who “run into him” and are “on [son] back “.

He rejected a reform of the voting system, arguing that Quebecers “tell him not to put energy on it”, but rather in the economy and health, for example. “The voting system worked well for many years in Quebec. It also brings certain advantages, like a certain stability, like an ability for the government to make changes,” he added. He pledged in 2018 to reform the voting system, a promise he broke during his term.

He once again refused to make public the preliminary data he has on his Quebec-Lévis tunnel project. And in the same breath, he said that this data, “it shows that we need it a lot” for this third link.

Contrary to what he said earlier in the campaign, the CAQ chief replied that he “does not rule out” allowing doctors to practice in both the public and private sectors. It is prohibited at this time.