Prime Minister Legault wants to subsidize a company that would have declared five billion in profit in 2021. Rather embarrassing!
In a few days, Prime Minister Legault got bogged down in his arguments before the Horne Foundry. On a first dance step, he first wanted to calm the anger of the people of Rouyn-Noranda by going so far as to threaten the company to close if necessary in order to protect the health of the population, he said. . In the second figure, the national director of public health, in a soothing speech, tried to camouflage the change in tone of the CAQ by talking about the health of the population, but without showing any binding commitment with regard to the company. The third part is based on the speech of Prime Minister Legault who gets lost in sophisms to announce a reward to the company because it creates jobs.
We must, he claims, help this company to modify its technology in order to reduce its arsenic emissions because the workers pay taxes thanks to the company. It is a major change of direction, even a contradiction compared to his first speech carrying threats. The demands of the company’s lobbyists seem to have succeeded in overriding public health concerns. Admittedly, on Wednesday, the office of the Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, indeed entrusted to the To have to that his government is toying with the idea of establishing a daily standard in order to ensure the control of arsenic emissions.
What he does not say, and what the Prime Minister fails to mention, is that the shareholders of the Horne Smelter have enriched themselves by shamelessly polluting for many years by having access to natural resources at little cost, by taking advantage, it is said, of reduced electricity rates and leaving the State to take care of the health problems of the population of Rouyn-Noranda, and so on.
In other words, if the Prime Minister made a calculation of the balance of health costs, the destruction of the environment and all the privileges already granted to the company in various forms, including laissez-faire, which had become intolerable in terms of pollution versus the taxes paid by the workers, the accountant in Mr. Legault would perhaps see that the company wins all the way. Meanwhile, the population is still waiting for proposals for concrete solutions related to the problems of contamination present for years in Rouyn-Noranda.
The reasons given by the Prime Minister to help the company do not hold water, especially since he never refers to the company’s financial capacity or the profits made over the years.
In defiance of the population affected by the pollution of the company, the Prime Minister sends a strong signal to all companies at fault with regard to compliance with environmental standards: you can contaminate a living environment without complying with acceptable standards, because, come, we are going to contribute financially to straighten out your ways of doing things a little. The people who have paid for this pollution of their health, what particular compensation can they expect? Very little support.