How long does it take a businessman to become a minister, concerned not only with his own portfolio of economic and energy development, but also with all the social and environmental imperatives incumbent on his government?
Obviously, in the case of Pierre Fitzgibbon, more than two years. Because the Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy is showing astonishing credulity if he is really surprised that the Northvolt project arouses so much concern and suspicion.
At Paul Arcand’s microphone last week, Mr. Fitzgibbon expressed concern that the “outpouring of hostility” towards the electric vehicle battery cell factory project was harming “Quebec’s credibility.” » as a popular destination for foreign investment. The risk does indeed exist. If any development project necessary for the transition to a green economy is slowed down by legal or popular challenges, certain multinationals could prefer to invest elsewhere rather than run the risk of wasting time and money here.
However, if the Northvolt project is getting underway in the shadow of such distrust, it is because it was precisely instigated by the CAQ government. Dazzled by the economic and energy potential of his future project, Mr. Fitzgibbon is blind to the consequences of his unfortunate habit of announcing important social projects without taking care to prepare the latter in the first instance.
The minister will certainly have been relieved to see the Superior Court of Quebec reject on Friday the request for an injunction brought by the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) to suspend the preparatory work for the plant. The lack of transparency and the impression of double standards deplored by the CQDE, however, remain without explanation today.
Thanks to the rigorous work of numerous journalists, including our colleague Alexandre Shields, the potential impacts on the site’s biodiversity – considered too important for a real estate project to be approved, but negligible enough for Northvolt’s to be accepted 10 months later – have been been widely recorded.
So much the worse, then, for the wetlands of the vast land, which nevertheless provide “a variety of habitats for living species, which allows the maintenance of biodiversity”. So much the worse, too, for the “impressive diversity” of bird species. These concerns, raised by the Ministry of the Environment to reject the first project, suddenly disappeared in the case of Northvolt. Just like the requirement for an examination by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE), which will only be imposed for the third phase, that is, battery recycling. A change in regulations came into force two months before the Legault government announced with great fanfare the arrival of the Swedish multinational on Quebec soil. A mysterious sequence of events to say the least.
Rather than allaying the fears of environmental groups, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, doctors, unions, academics and citizens, Minister Fitzgibbon accuses them of compromising the economic development of Quebec.
This somewhat bulldozing attitude promises to once again expand the production and sale of private electricity, and thus put an end to Hydro-Québec’s current quasi-monopoly in this area. The debate will take place in a parliamentary committee, once the bill has been tabled, underlines Mr. Fitzgibbon. However, faced with a government with a majority, the stakeholders risk already being turned against such a change, which will seem decided from the outset.
The great return of nuclear energy, unexpectedly brought out of the box by the boss of Hydro-Québec, Michael Sabia, was just as hasty.
The necessary transition to green energies and a green economy nevertheless requires protecting the environment that we are trying to save by these means. By wanting to precipitate this legacy that the Northvolt factory is for them, Pierre Fitzgibbon and François Legault themselves put obstacles in the way.
The project also does not worry the federal Minister of the Environment and former environmental activist, Steven Guilbeault. But for four months, the Quebec government’s haste and lack of transparency have continued to raise significant doubts. This expeditious approach by the CAQ leaves these worrying questions hanging, whether they are all legitimate or not. And MM. Fitzgibbon and Legault are now harvesting the bitter fruits that they themselves have sown since last fall.
It is now up to them to review the method and, if they want to successfully complete their major projects, to finally be reassuring.