By sending “journalists, ecologists, lawyers” and citizens out for a walk, Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon is in the process of undermining the mega battery factory project of the Swedish company Northvolt, says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
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Quebecers have the right to ask questions about the billions of dollars invested by the State in the project located in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, underlines the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire
“The CAQ is fabricating a social acceptability problem that was avoidable. If the government had done things well, it would be a project, I think, that could be well received by Quebecers,” he declared Thursday morning.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also underlined this during a meeting with the CEO of Northvolt in North America, Paolo Cerruti, on December 12.
“When I met him, I [lui ai] says: Your problem is your minister, because every time he tries to defend you, he points the finger at everyone, he sends the journalists, the ecologists, the lawyers who defend the citizens, the citizens themselves. I mean, the worst lawyer for the Northvolt project is Pierre Fitzgibbon,” declared Mr. Nadeau-Dubois before the question period.
By holding a public hearing office on the environment, for example, Quebec could have avoided some of the resistance currently encountered by the project, believes the QS MP.
“The remedy, when there is a lack of social acceptability, is transparency, not accusations and then inflammatory open letters to say that journalists are all crooked and that environmentalists have not understood anything . That harms the project,” says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
Radical groups
Upon his arrival at the Salon Bleu, the Minister of the Environment once again defended the Northvolt project, at a time when activists from the Climate Rage group were blocking the entrance to the site of the future battery factory.
Benoit Charette rejects the idea that his government has not communicated enough to explain the project, while recognizing that there is always room for improvement.
“There are no projects that are unanimously unanimous on the environment, on one side or the other; even wind turbine projects have their opponents,” he underlined.
And some, more radical groups will simply never be convinced.
“There are groups with whom I have been dealing, for five years, who advocate disinvestment, who literally advocate a step back in economic development. It’s clear that we will never win over these people, me first and foremost. But they are entitled to their opinion,” says Benoit Charette.