PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal, April 27, 2023 – Thirty-two environmental, social, citizen and union groups denounce the gap between the Prime Minister's commitment to hold a “real social debate” on energy and the format of the consultation announced by the office of the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Mr. Pierre Fitzgibbon, on April 26, 2023.
Quebec's energy future
“The mock consultation proposed by Minister Fitzgibbon essentially concerns energy production and not the energy future of Quebec as a whole. It is not designed to fuel social dialogue on the vital issues that the energy transition raises, in particular energy consumption and the ecological impacts of projects. Neither independence nor transparency is there. The government clearly takes lightly the importance of the societal choices we have to make,” the groups assess.
Public consultation
The groups note that the government has ignored the voices that have been raised from all sides in recent months to request a “generic” type public consultation led by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) or another form of broad and independent consultation on Quebec's energy future. “This issue is national in scope, because the resulting projects will have potentially irreversible impacts in all regions. It is therefore essential that these choices obtain a high level of social acceptability and do not trigger a new series of outcry, as was the case with several energy and mining projects,” explain the groups.
The groups deplore that, far from respecting its commitment to hold a social debate, the Legault government is offering the population of Quebec a restricted and opaque reflection exercise.
It only offers civil society an online platform as a space for expression and exchange, during the summer period, from 1er June to 1er August 2023. For the rest, the process includes only one day of reflection workshops, in May 2023, reserved for specialists in the energy sector, as well as consultations with representatives of indigenous communities. As for the bill that will be tabled in the fall, it will be the subject of special consultations, which means that they will not be open to everyone.
According to studies by Hydro-Québec and the firm Dunsky Énergie + Climat on which the government bases its projections, Quebec should produce an additional 100 to 137 TWh of electricity, by 2050, to electrify most of our vehicles. , our buildings and our industries, in addition to the new projects in the pipeline for Minister Fitzgibbon. This means that we would have to build half a Hydro-Québec in the coming years, as François Legault likes to repeat, or even increase the capacity by 65 % if we want to accommodate new projects.
“At what ecological, human and economic costs? Will the population accept a boom in hydroelectric, wind, mining and other developments?
Are there better options? Is it really a law that Quebec needs at this time and is it not premature to think about modifying the Hydro-Québec Act and the Régie de l'énergie Act, when we haven't even tried to come up with a common vision that would guide all future laws? Why so much haste? », Ask the groups.
According to them, it is to answer these questions and many others that the debate on how to decarbonize Quebec must truly engage all stakeholders, including citizens from all regions, specialists, scientists, trade union organizations, Indigenous Nations as well as the most vulnerable populations, particularly those experiencing energy poverty. Everyone must not only have the opportunity to be heard, but also to dialogue with each other and with the government so that visions that are meaningful and as consensual as possible can emerge.
Signatories
- Nature Québec, Emmanuelle Rancourt, energy expert project manager
- Grouping of environmental energy organizations, Jean-Pierre Finet, spokesperson
- TerraVie, Ève Duhaime, vice-president
- Common front for the energy transition, Elisabeth Gibeau, coordinator
- Environmental Mobilization Ahuntsic Cartierville (MEAC), Melanie Busby
- David Suzuki Foundation, Charles Bonhomme, Public Affairs and Communications Manager
- Fondation Rivières, André Bélanger, general director
- NO to an oil spill in the St. Lawrence, Martin Poirier, co-founder
- Greenpeace Canada, Patrick Bonin, head of the Climate-Energy campaign
- Quebec Better Look Coalition, Rodrigue Turgeon, spokesperson
- Quebec Federation of Workers (FTQ), Denis Bolduc, general secretary
- Quebec hydrocarbon vigilance group, Bruno Detuncq, member of the coordination committee
- Prosperity Without Oil, Benoit St-Hilaire, spokesperson
- Équiterre, Marc-André Viau, director of government relations
- Quebec network of environmental groups, Maude Prud'homme, social ecology agent
- Environmental action Basses-Laurentides, Normand Beaudet, energy spokesperson
- Alliance of professional and technical personnel in health and social services (APTS), Émilie Charbonneau, 2e vice-president
- Foundation Coule pas chez nous, Jean Paradis, administrator
- Montreal Climate Coalition, Jean-François Boisvert, president
- Transition Capitale-Nationale, Lucie Bergeron, member
- UNEplanète eco-citizen movement, Carole Dupuis, spokesperson
- Quebec Public and Parapublic Service Union (SFPQ), Karine Dextras-Paquette, vice-president
- Climate Action Network Canada, Leïla Cantave, responsible for Quebec
- Eric Pineault, professor and president of the scientific committee of the Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM
- Public Service Union (CUPE-Québec), Dominic Champagne, VP Energy sector
- Friends of Chicot de Saint-Cuthbert, Danielle Demers, president
- Ecological transition La Pêche, Yolande Henry, founding member
- Polémos degrowth, Philippe Gauthier, member of the scientific committee
- Environmental solidarity Sutton, Sylvie Berthiaume, vice-president
- Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal – CSN, Dominique Daigneault, president
- Coalition Let’s take out the gas!, Marie-Noëlle Foschini, coordinator
- Mothers at the front, Gabrielle Spenard-Bernier, coordinator
Photo: Fre Sonneveld/Unsplash
Source
Sophie Lachance
Communications and Mobilization Leader
Fondation Rivières
514-272-2666, ext. 307
