Québec solidaire (QS) may have the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction objective on the political scene, but it would allow the biggest polluter in Québec to operate if it were brought to power.
Aspiring Prime Minister Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was in the riding of Bonaventure, in New Richmond, on Thursday. 80 kilometers to the east, in the village of Port-Daniel, the McInnis cement plant has been emitting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of GHGs year after year since 2017. In 2020, the company – a Brazilian property – became the biggest polluter in Quebec: it emitted no less than 1.2 million tonnes that year.
However, the cement factory, known for the cement dust that it spreads at times in the region, would not close under a united government. “We are going to make the transition to a green economy, but never on the backs of workers. The people who work at the McInnis cement plant, they do it for a living, that’s all. And people have the right to earn a living, ”said QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Thursday.
“We are not going to propose to put the key in the door of industries”, he agreed later in the day.
Sunday details
“Investing public funds [dans l’entreprise] was a mistake,” according to Mr. Nadeau Dubois. Currently, McInnis employs about 100 workers. This is enough, according to Mr. Nadeau-Dubois, to justify “accompanying” the company in its energy transition.
“A solidary Quebec government would support this company much better, which has the means to improve its facilities so that the problems we have seen, particularly in terms of dust, are resolved,” argued the “GND”.
” [Les travailleurs]we are not going to drop them overboard,” he added.
Québec solidaire has the highest greenhouse gas reduction objective among the five main political parties in Québec. By 2030, the political formation wishes to have reduced emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels. It will present its “costed” plan on Sunday to achieve this.
GND maintains that it will contain “measures to support vulnerable sectors of [l’économie] “. “The McInnis cement plant is one of the sectors that are vulnerable in a context of ecological transition”, indicated the solidarity co-spokesperson, who does not exclude paying public funds to help the company “on the technological level”. and “in terms of the requalification of workers”.
In its most recent green plan, the government of François Legault pledged to pay more than $1.2 billion by 2027 to help businesses reduce their polluting emissions.