(Gatineau) The resignation of “super minister” Pierre Fitzgibbon has created a shockwave that has shaken both the government and the opposition parties, who see this hasty departure as a hard blow for François Legault and his government.
Meeting in pre-session caucus in Gatineau, in Outaouais, the interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), Marc Tanguay, affirms that the Prime Minister thus finds himself “with his pants on the floor”, a few days before the resumption of work in Quebec.
“It’s a huge blow. It’s a hard blow for François Legault to lose the man to whom he had given all the reins of the economy, all the reins also when it comes to energy. […] “It’s a tough blow today for a government that has just lost its conductor, its quarterback in the economy, energy and innovation,” he said.
He just lost his center player on his first trio. […] François Legault finds himself with his pants on the floor in economic and energy matters. […] Now there is no pilot in the plane.
Marc Tanguay, interim leader of the PLQ
Marwah Rizqy, who this fall is becoming the official opposition’s energy critic, believes for his part that the government must withdraw the bill of the resigning minister, the study of which will begin shortly in parliament, and which consists of a major reform of the Quebec energy sector.
“It is the number two in the government who announces his departure. […] “His bill can no longer go forward, the government must withdraw it,” she said.
According to her, with this departure, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) “is no longer the party of the economy.”
“Mr. Fitzgibbon, yes it is a loss for Quebec, I did not expect his resignation. I expected to work with him starting next week on a colossal bill. And now for Mr. Legault, he really has to ask himself some questions,” she said.
The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, for his part stressed that Pierre Fitzgibbon “is leaving the ship in the middle of a storm, when he himself started this storm.”
“While we were swimming in energy surpluses just two years ago, the CAQ chose to squander our energy by selling it at a discount to big business and the United States. In the space of just two years, this government has transformed significant surpluses into a shortage. We must therefore work this fall on a bill on Quebec’s energy future following a situation that Pierre Fitzgibbon himself created, but he will no longer be there,” denounced the PQ leader.
For his part, Québec solidaire MP Haroun Bouazzi wrote that ” [la démission de Pierre Fitzgibbon] This comes at a particularly serious time when Northvolt is in trouble, the minister has been rapidly selling off all the available megawatts to foreign multinationals and the mega-energy bill is receiving criticism from all sides.
“Will Prime Minister Legault take this opportunity to do things differently in terms of energy transition?” he asked.