New Council of Ministers | Legault slips between the CEO of Hydro and his superminister

(Quebec) To calm the game with Hydro-Quebec, and in a gesture rarely seen during the formation of a Council of Ministers, François Legault brings together the CEO of the state-owned company Sophie Brochu and its superminister Pierre Fitzgibbon within a committee on the economy and the energy transition that he himself will chair.

Hugo Pilon Larose
The Press

Tommy Chouinard
The Press

The Prime Minister unveiled a new cabinet on Wednesday made up of 30 ministers – 16 men and 14 women – and more of a continuation. Twenty of them were already sitting around the table and several retain the same functions. Two ministers from the first term are excluded, Pierre Dufour and Lucie Lecours.

Nine new deputies elected on October 3 obtain a portfolio. Bernard Drainville takes over the helm of Education and succeeds Jean-François Roberge, who now manages the identity files of Language and Secularism.

There is only one promoted among the deputies of the first term who were waiting their turn: Christopher Skeete, appointed Minister Delegate for the Economy. This could cause problems in the management of the caucus, veterans will be unhappy to have been left on the sidelines.

Mais c’est surtout la nomination du superministre Pierre Fitzgibbon qui retient l’attention, un scénario qu’avait révélé La Presse la semaine dernière. Le député de Terrebonne cumule maintenant l’Économie, l’Innovation et l’Énergie, en plus d’être responsable de la métropole et du Développement économique régional.

Les relations entre M. Fitzgibbon et la PDG d’Hydro-Québec étaient tendues avant qu’il n’obtienne les responsabilités de l’Énergie. M^me Brochu a menacé de démissionner si le gouvernement la forçait à miser sur des projets économiques énergivores au détriment de ceux favorables à l’environnement. Elle ne veut pas que le Québec soit le « Dollarama » de l’électricité, a-t-elle lancé.

« On partage le même objectif », dit Legault

Pour apaiser les tensions, François Legault a annoncé la création d’un comité qu’il présidera sur le sujet de transition énergétique et auquel siégeront M^me Brochu, M. Fitzgibbon, le ministre des Finances Eric Girard, le ministre de l’Environnement Benoit Charette et le ministre responsable des relations avec les Premières Nations et les Inuits Ian Lafrenière.

« J’ai parlé avec la PDG d’Hydro-Québec au cours des derniers jours. On partage le même objectif : nous assurer qu’Hydro-Québec évolue de façon ordonnée pour le bénéfice de tous les Québécois, y compris bien sûr pour les prochaines générations », a déclaré François Legault dans son discours au Salon rouge. Son objectif est d’« accélérer la transition énergétique » et de « décarboner le Québec ».

Pierre Fitzgibbon denies that there is any tension between him and M^me Leaflet. But in the same breath, he believes that the CEO of Hydro-Quebec has it all wrong when she says that some companies see Quebec as “the one-dollar store” for electricity.

” You have to be careful. […] I find it a bit peculiar to think that companies would just think of having electricity at a penny. It’s not that. Companies, what they ultimately want are green products,” he said.

“We have to reconcile that. You have to know which projects are desirable, therefore, by definition global, not just economic, then which are good for society, for the fight against climate change,” added the Minister of Economy and Energy.

Pour Benoit Charette, le comité piloté par le premier ministre a une fonction : « s’assurer d’une saine utilisation de notre capacité hydroélectrique pour aider à décarboner notre économie ».

Sur son compte Twitter, en fin d’après-midi, Hydro-Québec a réagi avec humour au dévoilement du Conseil des ministres : « La résistance et la tension, c’est normal dans notre métier, mais au bout du compte, l’important est que le courant passe. »

Sophie Brochu a informé ses employés jeudi qu’elle avait l’intention de rester à son poste. Elle voit dans la création du comité « une main tendue du premier ministre ». C’est une initiative « positive » qui « mérite d’être saluée » et qui « aidera à prendre les bonnes décisions », selon elle.

Des nouveaux visages

Après avoir été ministre sous le gouvernement péquiste de Pauline Marois, Bernard Drainville retrouve une place au cabinet comme titulaire de l’Éducation. Il se dit « conscient du défi ». « C’est une grosse machine. Et il ne faut pas se faire avaler par la machine. […] Don’t worry. To get some action, you will get some action! But we will take the time to do things correctly, ”launched the new MP for Lévis.

With a team of 89 deputies and several new elected officials, François Legault finally appointed nine recruits to minister positions. The former president of the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), Suzanne Roy, becomes Minister of Families. She thus replaces Mathieu Lacombe, who finds himself at the head of Culture and Communications. Nathalie Roy, who held these positions, is approached to become the next President of the National Assembly.

The new MP for Sanguinet on the South Shore of Montreal, Christine Fréchette, becomes Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration. She will have the mandate to restore bridges with the immigrant communities who were hit during the election campaign by the words of François Legault. “I haven’t always expressed myself perfectly on this. […]. In the mandate that is beginning, I want us to address the issue of immigration as a solution for the future of French rather than as a problem,” said the Premier.

Kateri Champagne Jourdain, who made history by becoming the first woman member of a First Nation to sit on the Council of Ministers, obtained the Employment portfolio. Former Radio-Canada journalist Martine Biron serves as Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie, in addition to being responsible for the Status of Women. Other newly elected women are promoted: Pascale Déry becomes Minister of Higher Education, France-Élaine Duranceau, responsible for Housing and Maïté Blanchette Vézina, for Natural Resources and Forests.

A mini-budget in December

A significant number of ministers retain the functions they held during the previous government. Eric Girard thus remains Minister of Finance at the start of his second CAQ term. This fall, he will table an economic update (a “mini-budget”) to allow the government to send checks of $400 to $600 to nearly 6.4 million Quebecers struggling with the consequences of the ‘inflation. Sonia LeBel remains President of the Treasury Board.

As expected, Christian Dubé remains Minister of Health, while François Legault promises to “rebuild” the system. He will be accompanied by Lionel Carmant, Minister responsible for Social Services, and a newcomer, the former CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Sonia Bélanger, Minister for Health and Elders.

Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault and François Bonnardel exchange their roles: the first inherits Transport and the second, Public Security.

With François Legault’s choice to entrust the Language and Secularism issues to Jean-François Roberge, Simon Jolin-Barrette retains Justice and his role as parliamentary leader. After being “disqualified” from his role as Minister of Immigration due to controversial remarks, Jean Boulet also lost the Job, but remained in the cabinet as holder of Labour.

A defeated candidate named deputy minister

Candidate defeated in Maurice-Richard on October 3, Audrey Murray was appointed Deputy Minister of Tourism at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers Thursday evening. Before appearing under the CAQ banner, the lawyer had chaired the Commission of Labor Market Partners since 2018. Deputy ministers change departments. For example, Alain Sans Cartier moves from Education to International Relations; Carole Arav from Employment to Education; Marc Croteau, from the Environment to Public Security; Marie Josée Lizotte from Natural Resources to the Environment. Brigitte Pelletier, who was in Public Security, becomes Associate Secretary General for senior positions at the Ministère du Conseil exécutif.

An outcast wants explanations

Excluded from the Council of Ministers, the deputy for Abitibi-Est Pierre Dufour misunderstands that Abitibi-Témiscamingue, where the CAQ won the three ridings, has no one around the decision-making table. “I will definitely have a discussion on the subject with the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said. François Legault has decided to appoint as minister responsible for the region Mathieu Lacombe, who also has the Outaouais under his leadership. Regarding the loss of his portfolio of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, he recalled that the idea of ​​splitting this ministry and redistributing its files, on the one hand to Natural Resources and on the other to Environment, had been in the air for some time. The other excluded from the Council of Ministers, Lucie Lecours, reacted by saying that she “still achieved a lot of things in the last term”. “A pinch [au cœur] ? It may be a bit strong” as an expression to describe her reaction to seeing the new Council of Ministers without her. “We are 90 [députés], and the Prime Minister has said that there is a lot of talent in all of this. We are a team and I am a team girl. At the Salon Rouge, we noticed the absence of deputies elected in 2018 who did not obtain promotion to the Council of Ministers, such as Youri Chassin and Gilles Bélanger.

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