In 1931, as the economic crisis worsened, unemployment exceeded 26%, even among unionized workers, according to Denis Vaugeois, in his historical synthesis Canada-QuebecIt was also at this time that questioning against the electricity trusts intensified, according to this work.
The monopolies, including the one operated by Montreal Light, Heat and Power, were blamed. The same goes for those in the Lower St. Lawrence or in the Beauharnois region. The prospect of nationalizing these companies was already circulating throughout Quebec. The Godbout government, elected on the eve of the war, was going to nationalize the Montreal trust.
The issue of the total nationalization of hydroelectric companies returned to the political scene at the time of the Liberal Party election in 1960. It was then that René Lévesque finally managed to convince the last holdouts in his party. In 1963, he nationalized electricity. The Minister of Natural Resources at the time also had plans to build new dams.
I remember that at that time, my mother, born in the “Faubourg à m’lasse”, was particularly pleased about it. She had confessed to us the misery of her family of six girls with a mother abandoned by their father during the 1930s. Doubly ashamed because the family had been on “direct assistance” and because, for a reason of unpaid bill, the electricity company had cut off their supply.
A charitable neighbour on Rue Poupart had then allowed my grandmother to plug in her “twister washing machine” at her home, in the apartment next door.
“Common good”
For me, as for many Quebecers, Hydro-Québec has a high symbolic value. The laws on free hospitalization and the creation of the Ministry of Education, which opened the door to free public education right up to the university gates, complete this trio.
These are pillars of modern Quebec that embody a “common good” approach for the population. They embody a symbol that is far from being a simple myth, as MP Youri Chassin seems to think. I should tell this MP—who just slammed the door on the Coalition avenir Québec to sit as an independent—other stories that happened in my mother’s neighbourhood or, later, in my neighbourhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in order to make him understand concretely the progress made within working-class families thanks to this vision.
A step backwards is unacceptable. Even less so with all the new challenges today, particularly on the fronts of housing, mental health and environmental transition.
In this regard, Bill 69 on the responsible governance of energy resources worries me greatly, especially since the resignation of Sophie Brochu as head of Hydro-Québec.
It is true that it is difficult for the average citizen to grasp all the issues at stake in the current debate. But I do remember what happened in Ontario with Hydro One. Its transformation does not seem to have been a success, at least for the average consumer.
Are we going to “break up” (if it has not already been done) Hydro-Québec into several entities to better privatize it and continue to authorize the construction of small private dams in Quebec?
Yes, I understand that we have to pay a fair price for electricity, both for businesses and for individual consumers. Yes, we must not waste it. But let us keep our Crown corporation intact; it is so important in a country as vast and with such harsh winters as Quebec.
Yes, like actress, author and playwright Christine Beaulieu, I love Hydro!