(Quebec) Quebec solidaire promises to bring to heel the 89 companies that pollute beyond environmental standards with the blessing of the Quebec government.
Posted at 11:01 a.m.
If it takes power, the left party will “sit down with these companies” in the first 100 days of a mandate to make “a game plan to end this situation as quickly as possible”.
MNA for Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, has been fighting for years against the ministerial agreement that allows the Horne Foundry to emit more arsenic into the air than Quebec environmental laws allow. But 88 other companies also have ministerial authorizations that allow them to pollute more than the law allows, including paper mills, mines and aluminum smelters.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Emilise Lessard-Therrien
Québec solidaire wants to publicly disseminate these ministerial notices, and wants to obtain opinions from regional public health departments. “And from these discussions, we will establish a game plan. But the idea is to get out as quickly as possible of these freebies given to companies to further pollute the environment, ”says Ms.me Lessard-Therrien.
She denounces the attitude of the Minister of the Environment Benoît Charette, who is dragging his feet in this file according to her. The current law also provides for the creation of a public register to obtain information on these polluters, but five years later, its creation is still not complete. “The future public register, as provided for by the reform of the EQLwill be in effect when the government has set the date of entry into force of this new public register”, indicated to The Press the spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC), Sophie Gauthier.
A health hazard
For meme Lessard-Therrien, this ministerial permission to pollute “endangers” the health of the Quebec population. “Air pollution is the fourth killer in the world. If populations are in danger, the answer is yes,” she says.
“For decades, we have been governed by governments that put the economy against people’s health and the environment. It is a model in which we will never play. The moment when we lie down in front of the multinationals to allow them to pollute in the name of the economy is over. It’s over, ”says the MP.
She says that with Québec solidaire, it’s “no more kowtows and the red carpet” for multinationals. “When you think of paper mills, mines, the resource is on Quebec soil. If they want to operate here, they have no choice. We are going to make sure that these companies operate under the conditions that we have given ourselves, ”said the elected official.