The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) promises to harness new rivers over the next few years, but its aims will come up against strong opposition if Hydro-Québec decides to build a dam on the Magpie River. The State Corporation is not closing the door to such a project and the Legault government rejected in 2020 the establishment of a protected area along this watercourse, because of its hydroelectric potential.
“There is no question of transforming our region into a site to build a dam on the Magpie. The opposition will be strong and social acceptability is not there,” warned Tuesday the prefect of the MRC de la Minganie, Luc Noël, in an interview at the To have to.
“We are open to discussing wind development, but for the river, no. There has already been the Romaine River and we want to develop sustainable tourism with the Magpie River. It is an internationally renowned river,” he added, recalling that it is recognized among the best in the world in various charts for rafting and whitewater activities.
Same story from the side of the head of the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit, Jean-Charles Piétacho. “It’s the kind of project we’ve feared for several years, but our desire is clear: it’s no for a dam. We will be there to protect her. We have already lost important places with the flooding caused by the Romaine River project. We don’t want that for the Magpie. This river was important for our ancestors and it is today for our young people,” he told the To have to.
” Juridic people “
Elected officials from the North Shore and representatives of the First Nations granted last year a status of “legal personality” to this river of nearly 300 kilometers, which flows into the Gulf of St. west of Havre-Saint-Pierre.
The status of “legal personality” means that the speakers affirm that the Magpie is a “living entity” which has its own rights, “in the same way as a human being or a corporation”. These rights include the right “to respect for one’s natural cycles” and the “right to maintain one’s ecological integrity”. Such an initiative could also have to undergo the test of the courts if a project, such as the construction of a dam, were presented by Hydro-Québec.
This approach followed the decision of the Legault government to reject in 2020 a protected area project which was to occupy a territory of 2602 km2 along the Magpie. This project, submitted by the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, was blocked due to the hydroelectric potential of this imposing river.
“Potential” for Hydro
At that time, Hydro-Québec had assured that no project was on the table, even if there has been interest in a new dam on this river for several years. The Crown corporation, however, specified that it was impossible to predict “Quebec’s future needs in terms of energy demand”. In this context, “it would not be responsible” to “definitively give up the potential of this river”.
“However, it should be remembered that if ever we were to, in many years, propose a project on this river, it would then have to meet several criteria. Which includes social acceptability,” said Hydro-Québec.
On Tuesday, the Crown corporation would not specify its intentions regarding the Magpie River or other waterways in the province. “There have been very high-level assessments, like for any other river in the territory, with a view to documenting the potential in Quebec. We are talking here about continuing to assess this Quebec hydroelectric potential. It is far too early to specify rivers or regions at this stage. »
The director general of the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec, Alain Branchaud, judges for his part that it is premature to announce the desire to harness other rivers. “The vision of Quebec becoming the battery of North America represents an enormous risk for the protection of our territory and biodiversity. Quebec can integrate more wind and solar production into its network before thinking about harnessing other rivers,” he argued.
According to him, in addition to the Magpie River, other important rivers could be targeted for new dam projects.
In its report on the project for four generating stations on the Romaine River, the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) stated in 2009 that “participants asked that, should the project be carried out, the natural course of the Magpie River be protected, both to preserve a small part of the region’s whitewater heritage and to compensate for the loss of the Romaine River”.
In another BAPE report published in 2007, the commission concluded that the segment of the river that would be targeted by a future dam project “should be withdrawn from any new hydroelectric project and benefit from a protected status in order to preserve the natural character and the recreational tourism potential”.
With Ulysses Bergeron