The CAQ must “change its attitude”, to paraphrase François Legault who criticizes any questioning of its vision for the future of Quebec.
A vision obsessed with short-term wealth creation in the private sector, regardless of the cost to taxpayers, and without regard for the environmental footprint and social consequences.
Willful blindness
What is happening with Northvolt is in fact only one of the visible tips of the iceberg towards which the CAQ is heading by pressing the accelerator of disinformation.
To move faster, the Legault government ignores the warnings of experts, manipulates scientific advice and modifies regulations to accommodate the industry.
Journalists must fight to have access to information.
When they finally get it, our Prime Minister claims we are mixing apples and oranges. That the “largest private industrial project in the history of Quebec” will have less impact than a housing construction project which was refused for environmental reasons a few months earlier.
However, the figures from the Ministry of the Environment revealed by Radio-Canada demonstrate the opposite.
Notably that Northvolt is authorized to impact an area three times larger than the rejected project, and that the construction of the battery factory will lead to the destruction of 67 wetlands instead of 34.
Water quality
Beyond their importance for biodiversity, wetlands play an extremely important role in the water cycle. Particularly precious water in the context of climatic extremes.
This affects the health and safety of human populations, not just the survival of birds and fish which are important sentinels of the environment.
By changing the regulations so that the Northvolt project is not subject to public hearings, we are depriving ourselves of information that would make it possible to ensure, for example, that the water quality of surrounding communities is protected.
In fact, the drinking water intakes of three municipalities are located downstream of wetlands or contaminated lands that must be backfilled or waterproofed. It is not known what impacts the work could have on the quality of drinking water and the flow of surface water into the ground.
Experts like Philippe Gachon, professor and researcher in hydroclimatology at UQAM, also question the possible contamination of the surrounding groundwater and the Richelieu River which supplies other municipalities before flowing into the St. Lawrence.
Privatize profits and socialize costs
The problem with the development model promoted by the Legault government is that it does not take into account the environmental and social costs it generates.
He doesn’t even want to count them, as in the Northvolt case, which could undoubtedly be a good project if we took the necessary precautions.
But this government prefers blindness.
One public policy at a time, it contributes to the dismantling of the Quebec social model. The one who, however, made Quebec a distinct society in North America beyond our language.