Pierre Fitzgibbon is a unique politician, simply because he never really became a politician. He is above all a businessman, who works tirelessly to achieve his vision for the development of Quebec.
• Read also: Northvolt: “If the population does not want the project, there will be no project,” says Pierre Fitzgibbon
Tireless, inexhaustible and determined, he still stands out in the political landscape. Yes, he has had a number of escapades with ethics rules and that is a real concern. But his “I don’t care” with regard to the norms of decorum still has something refreshing in a political world that is too often conformist.
In the studio with us on the show The balance sheet, at LCN last Monday evening, he was talkative and energetic when talking about his current issues. One of his answers struck us all. Speaking about the Northvolt battery factory project, he said that “if the public doesn’t want the project, there won’t be a project.” Ayoye!
A veiled threat
It was great Fitzgibbon, who then confronted Quebecers with the risk they now ran of losing this “beautiful project”.
The problem is that the public never really had a say and that’s where the problem lies.
As Minister of the Environment, I have seen my share of “great projects”.
Who can forget the Suroît natural gas electricity generation plant?
We were finally able to bury it by asking the Energy Authority to conduct a serious and objective analysis on this subject.
In the Northvolt case, on the other hand, there will never be an objective external analysis unless Legault and Fitzgibbon change their minds.
In fact, Northvolt has become a classic case of a company that, while it is supposed to be monitored by the government in the public interest, instead dominates the government… Indeed, Legault rigged the rules to avoid the The study by the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement) which was to apply to the Northvolt project.
However, unless you have been living in a cave for 40 years, all serious developers have understood that there are no shortcuts when it comes to gaining public support for major projects.
Social acceptability is built, it is not imposed.
It is a dialogue that is sometimes difficult, but absolutely essential.
We build this acceptability upstream of a project and if we don’t obtain it, it is extremely difficult to build afterwards.
The future of the superminister?
This is where Pierre Fitzgibbon’s passion and energy can play tricks on him.
I had the opportunity to meet people who worked with him. They are often nervous about his tendency to stretch the elastic of rules, sometimes restrictive, which according to him are nothing more than a waste of time.
In government offices or around the table of the Council of Ministers, it is too easy to brush aside standards.
However, there is no point in agitating like this if, once presented with the facts, the skeptical public does not get on board.
We therefore come back to this declaration by the superminister about the “public” who will not “have one”, a project, if they “do not want one”.
Is this a prescient statement? One thing is certain, it is difficult to say the least not to see in these words of Fitzgibbon a reflection of his thoughts on his own political future.
He will not change his method. If his projects don’t progress as he wishes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pack up.