Quebec Environment & energy

2030 Plan for a Green Economy
The 2030 Plan for a Green Economy guides the government’s action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change over the course of this decade.
Thanks to its clean and renewable energy This hyperlink will open in a new window., Québec has a low per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rate and is a global leader in the green economy. To remain among the best, we need to pursue climate actions to further reduce Québec’s GHG emissions while at the same time transforming society and the economy. It is by fighting climate change that we will succeed in building a green and prosperous Québec.
Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs
The Advisory Committee on Climate Change is a standing independent body created under the Act mainly to ensure effective governance of the fight against climate change and to promote electrification.
The Government of Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada invest $1.5 million for wetland conservation in Quebec (November 2020)

1 April
Hanes: CAQ government’s Stablex law allowing expansion of hazardous-waste dump sets bad precedent
There are so many things wrong with the way the government of Premier François Legault rammed through a law to expand a hazardous-waste dump in Blainville that it’s hard to know where to begin. For starters, they signed off on the company Stablex mowing down 58 hectares of forest that is habitat for birds and backfilling nine hectares of wetlands where beavers thrive to expand its operations burying dangerous materials encased in concrete.
Second, the Quebec government decided to forcibly expropriate the property, which is part of a local peat bog, from Blainville. The municipality was intending to set aside the site for conservation. The $17-million expropriation steamrollered over objections from all quarters: the mayor of Blainville, all 82 municipalities of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), the opposition parties in the National Assembly, the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) and the local population. The Legault government rushed through permission for Stablex to use the site, invoking closure to compress the normal democratic debate process. Bill 93 was hastily adopted last Friday morning after an all-night sitting of the National Assembly. The government offered various excuses for the urgency. Stablex claims it’s going to run out of room to bury encased waste at a nearby facility in 2027 and can’t afford to lose a second preparing a new site. The company is also under the gun to clear trees on the disputed property before April 15, when federal rules protecting the nesting sites of birds come into force. Blainville and the CMM sought a court injunction Monday to stop the razing of trees and have the law quashed. But Bill 93 strangely gives Stablex immunity from actions it undertakes before that April 15 deadline — once again attempting to circumvent due process. A judge could rule as early as Wednesday on the injunction request, but in the meantime the Quebec Superior Court warned the company not to do more than remedial work, like removing fallen branches.

Clifford Lincoln: Airport’s arguments on nature park don’t fly
The presence of wildlife around Trudeau airport is nothing new, notes Clifford Lincoln, and “to invoke a sudden increased hazard to public safety is disingenuous.”
[Aéroports de Montréal] ADM cannot blame civil society for being wary of its motives. In 2021, it decided to lease land under its control to Meltech/Medicom for a large industrial building project. In the face of outraged public opposition, Meltech, whom we salute as a good corporate citizen, decided to locate its plant elsewhere. Then, in July 2022, ADM suddenly razed to the ground 4,000 milkweed plants over 19 hectares known as the Monarch Fields, where monarch butterflies migrate every year. Now ADM tells us it needs to use precious green space for a decarbonization plant, of all ironies. The scientific fact is that the most effective sequester of carbon emissions is nature, its trees and vegetation. So ADM would cut trees, bulldoze the land for its plant, and tar it for access roads and a parking lot — to decarbonize! In my many years in public life, seldom if at all have I witnessed such a large consensus of civil society as that which supports the protection and conservation of these lands.
21 March
Mayors call on feds to stop Montreal airport expansion into green space
Dorval Mayor Marc Doret, St-Laurent borough Mayor Alan DeSousa and Alex Norris, the city of Montreal’s executive committee member responsible for large parks, as well as former Quebec environment minister Clifford Lincoln, held a joint news conference to call attention to the issue in anticipation of a federal election call expected this weekend.
15 March
Airport expansion versus nature park: ADM plans to build on land, including Monarch Fields, despite outrage
By Michelle Lalonde
Montreal’s airport authority is resorting to greenwashing and fearmongering in its efforts to assert its right to expand airport operations onto the meadows, forests and wetlands north of Montreal-Trudeau Airport, supporters of the Parc-Nature des Sources project charge. A broad consensus has been building in the Montreal region in support of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s Parc-Nature des Sources project, which seeks conservation status for about 230 hectares of land north of the airport. One of the last large unprotected green spaces on the island, the site is home to more than 220 species of birds, including several that are threatened or at-risk. It also includes what conservationists have dubbed “Monarch Fields,” a key migratory stop for the endangered monarch butterfly.

28 February
Questions swirl about whether Quebec can handle its new bottle-deposit system
By Rene Bruemmer
Starting Saturday, all ready-to-drink plastic containers ranging from 100 millilitres to two litres in size will come with a deposit fee of 10 cents in Quebec. The new system will increase the number of containers that can be returned for a deposit by 1.2 billion, for a total of more than four billion containers annually.
But with the organizations responsible for collecting the containers currently the target of an administrative investigation by the Quebec government, which in turn has left the organizations unable to secure the bank funding necessary to build new return centres, numerous questions are being asked about whether the province has the resources to handle the increase in volume. Quebec retailers expecting a deluge of returns from people who have been collecting containers for months are asking citizens to hold off for a few weeks so local grocery stores and dépanneurs won’t be overwhelmed.
The deposit-refund system is being expanded to all plastic beverage containers, including bottles of water, sparkling water, juice, milk and alcoholic beverages. Customers will be charged an extra 10 cents on each container, similar to the system for aluminum cans and beer bottles. The containers can be returned to Consignaction depots for deposits, or at one of 3,500 retailers throughout the province that currently have deposit-return systems. Their collection machines have been updated to accept the new containers, but glitches are expected.

2024

13 December
Quebec reaches deal for low-cost power from Churchill Falls for next 50 years
By René Bruemmer
Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have settled on a new agreement in principle that will replace the contentious Churchill Falls deal and promises to guarantee Quebec low-cost hydroelectric power for the next 50 years. The new deal, signed in Newfoundland and Labrador Thursday by the premiers of the two provinces, will see Quebec continue to obtain power from Churchill Falls and increase the overall energy imported from Labrador by 50 per cent through investments in three new hydroelectric developments there. If the deal is ratified, the developments will become the second-largest hydroelectric complex in North America after James Bay. It will also see Quebec pay Newfoundland and Labrador 10 times more than it had in the past for energy produced by Churchill Falls under the current contract, which was scheduled to continue until 2041.
Premier François Legault qualified the deal, which has been in the works for the last four years, as “the agreement that I am most proud of.” Quebec will also see the equivalent of $200 billion in benefits due to reduced energy costs, electricity revenues and because it would cost much more to build equivalent hydroelectric structures in Quebec, he said.
… The agreement comes months after Hydro-Québec announced it plans to invest $185 billion by 2035 to meet the province’s coming energy needs, which are expected to double by 2050 as it transitions to greater reliance on sustainable energy and woos green energy corporations. The province said it will run out of energy surpluses by 2027, and still intends to build other hydroelectric dams in Quebec.

Analysis: Quebec and Newfoundland make energy peace after years of rancour
By Philip Authier
… True, the 15 per cent of Quebec’s power coming from Churchill Falls in Labrador will cost more starting Jan. 1, 2025 than the 0.2 cents/kWh now being paid by the province. Most of the cost will be passed on to industrial consumers and in lower dividends from Hydro-Québec to the government. But Legault urged people to compare that with the long, costly and politically arduous process of building new power dams or wind turbines to meet the growing demand as the province shifts away from oil.
Legault does not have to go the people until October 2026, but after his last “historic” deal, the Northvolt battery plant, hit turbulence and a dismal year 2024, he needed a win. On Thursday he did what so many premiers before him have done: used a big hydroelectric power deal as a political tool. In an end-of-year interview with TVA on Thursday, Legault, who likes to say he wakes up every morning thinking about the economy, hitched his political future to the deal, praising his team and efforts behind the scenes by Hydro-Québec CEO Michael Sabia.

11 September
Hydro CEO says Quebec gives too much power to foreign energy companies
The CEO of Hydro-Québec made waves at the legislature Tuesday, contradicting the former energy minister, Pierre Fitzgibbon, on residential rate increases and questioning the government’s strategy of awarding increasingly scarce power resources to foreign firms over Quebec companies.
Stepping up as the first witness at hearings on Bill 69, which is designed to accelerate Hydro-Québec’s green power production , the frank-talking Michael Sabia said he does not think massive investments in the coming years to boost Quebec’s power capacity will lead to increases in residential power rates.

11 June
Quebec says 3 times more homes could be in flood zones under new mapping
Government announces new regulatory framework for flood zones
(CBC) Some 55,000 more homes in Quebec will be in areas at risk of flooding — three times more than today — according to a new generation of flood maps coming from the provincial government.
Quebec officials released the estimates and announced the establishment of a new regulatory framework related to flood zones at a news conference Tuesday. Those new regulations will also apply to structures meant to mitigate flood risks like dikes and barriers, which are referred to in French as Ouvrages de protection contre les inondations (OPI).
Although the new maps have yet to be produced, officials expect that nearly 77,000 homes, or two per cent of Quebec’s population, could find themselves in a flood zone compared to 22,000 today.

7 June
Energy bill opens the door to Hydro-Québec charging more for peak hours
By Philip Authier,
(Montreal Gazette) At the same time as saying the increase in residential hydro rates will stay capped at three per cent through 2026, the Legault government has opened the door to allowing Hydro-Québec to charge consumers different power rates depending on the time of day. Economy and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon included the idea of variable daily rates in a sweeping bill on the governance of energy resources tabled Thursday, as Quebec tackles the challenge of reducing consumption and doubling its power production in the next 25 years. The province has already set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. That requires more power to replace fossil fuels.
Moving to deflect citizen concerns, Fitzgibbon’s new bill includes the creation of a financial aid program that would limit the effect of any residential hydro increase after the 2026 deadline, which is also the year of the next election. Industrial clients, however, are not included in the three per cent ceiling, a situation that has many large power consumers concerned.

30 May
Hydro-Québec will manage large-scale wind power projects
Municipalities and First Nations will be involved from the start and gain revenue as shareholders, CEO Michael Sabia says.
Hydro-Québec will become the project manager in carrying out large-scale wind projects, involving municipalities and First Nations from the start to ensure social acceptability.
The state-owned company presented its new strategy on Thursday with a view to accelerating the deployment of 10,000 MW of new wind capacity by 2035. The new model will aim to prioritize the development of projects that can reach beyond 1,000 MW

23 mai
Les pouvoirs électriques de Fitzgibbon
Le ministre de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie, Pierre Fitzgibbon, déposera sous peu un projet de loi au potentiel perturbateur important. À qui profitera-t-il ?
(La Presse) …le gouvernement compte réduire notre consommation (allô sobriété énergétique et tarification dynamique) et accélérer le développement d’énergies qui ne génèrent pas de GES (éolien, solaire, hydroélectricité et nucléaire, pour ceux qui y croient…).
Le premier objectif du projet de loi, selon M. Fitzgibbon, sera de « permettre à Hydro-Québec d’aller plus vite dans le déploiement de mégawatts ». Dans les faits, il s’agit avant tout de diminuer les délais pour la réalisation des projets. L’alerte à la réduction des contraintes pour éviter une étude du BAPE, par exemple, sonne ici à tue-tête.

21 February
Premier Legault on defensive about Northvolt project
(CTV) Premier François Legault displayed a banana, an orange and an apple on Wednesday to justify a more lenient scientific analysis of the Northvolt battery plant project in Montérégie.
He was reacting to a Radio-Canada report revealing that scientific justifications had disappeared in the Ministry of the Environment’s analysis of this controversial project.
The official Liberal opposition considers that these alterations have all the appearance of a “political order” and even evokes a “falsification of documents.”
The Parti Québécois is asking the Auditor General to look into the matter, while Québec solidaire (QS) wants to hear from the head of Northvolt.
Radio-Canada’s report reveals that the scientific references used a few months earlier in an analysis to reject a real estate project on the same site disappeared in the analysis that approved the Northvolt project.

29 January
Northvolt détruira des milieux naturels de «haute valeur écologique», selon les experts du gouvernement Legault
(Le Devoir) Le feu vert au projet Northvolt risque d’avoir des impacts « majeurs » pour la faune, puisque la disparition de milieux naturels de « haute valeur écologique » provoquera la perte irréversible d’habitats pour plusieurs espèces, notamment des espèces menacées. C’est ce qui se dégage des rapports des experts du gouvernement Legault produits dans le cadre de l’analyse du projet et obtenus par Le Devoir.

25-26 January
Environmental group loses bid to stop Northvolt work in Quebec
Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel
(Globe & Mail) The Superior Court of Quebec has rejected a petition from a Quebec-based environmental group that sought to stop work at the site of Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB’s planned $7-billion plant near Montreal.
… While the application for a temporary injunction was rejected, the Quebec Environmental Law Centre’s lawsuit challenging the permits will continue.
Environmental group challenges Quebec Northvolt project authorizations
Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel
(Globe & Mail) A Quebec environmental group argued in court that work on Swedish manufacturer Northvolt’s future electric vehicle battery plant was allowed to begin without proper analysis of the impact on the area’s biodiversity. Lawyers for the Quebec Environmental Law Centre (CQDE) argued in court Wednesday that approvals given by the Quebec Minister of the Environment and the municipality of Saint-Basile-le-Grand to destroy wetlands and cut trees on the site were unreasonable and illegal.
Separately, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, a First Nation community on the south shore of Montreal, announced Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit to “demand orders requiring the provincial and federal governments to engage in consultation” regarding the project. The council said in a news release that “Quebec and Canada have breached the duty to consult” when funding the project and authorizing the destruction of wetlands.

21 January
Western Quebec township backs ‘resistance’ to mineral exploration on its land
The Township of Low in western Quebec is taking steps to prevent mineral exploration on its lands amid a big increase in recent claims in the Outaouais.
In Quebec as in other jurisdictions, the province owns the subsurface and controls exploration rights to it, even beneath private property.
For less than $75, anyone can stake a claim, typically 50 hectares in area, using an online registry administered by Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests.
Once a claim has been staked, the holder has exclusive exploration rights there for three years, with an option to renew.

19 January
Construction of Northvolt’s Quebec EV battery plant halted until Jan. 23
Environmental group worried about damage to wetlands if construction allowed to go ahead
Northvolt, a Swedish company and a giant in the field of electric vehicle batteries, has earmarked land near the Richelieu River in Saint-Basile-le-Grand east of Montreal, to build a massive, multibillion-dollar EV battery plant. Work halted in January pending the outcome of a court injunction request by an environmental group.
As part of the construction work, Northvolt began felling trees at the site earlier this week, after getting the green light from Quebec’s Environment Ministry.
Environmental groups have raised concerns about the damage the construction would cause to wetlands in that area.

10 January
Déclaration de Désirée McGraw, porte-parole de l’opposition officielle en matière d’environnement et de lutte contre les changements climatiques et députée de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Northvolt autorisée à raser les milieux naturels
« Depuis l’annonce concernant Northvolt au Québec, nous sommes catégoriques : l’ensemble du projet doit inévitablement être soumis à un BAPE avant sa mise en chantier. La CAQ a contourné les règles pour en exempter l’entreprise bien que 74 milieux humides sur le site soient touchés ainsi que plusieurs espèces mises en péril. C’est une aberration et il faut la dénoncer. Comme pour les changements climatiques, on ne peut pas se vanter d’être un chef de file en matière de biodiversité sans faire le vrai travail pour protéger la nature. Le traitement spécial accordé à Northvolt par le gouvernement Legault crée un très mauvais précédent pour la nouvelle filière batterie, au Québec. L’approche de la CAQ mine cette industrie qui devrait être un net positif et stratégique pour le Québec. Accorder des fonds publics à quelque entreprise sans en exiger le respect des règlementations publiques de base en matière d’environnement est inacceptable. Encore une fois, le manque de considération notoire de la CAQ envers les enjeux environnementaux est très préoccupant dans ce dossier.

2023

28 September
EV battery giant Northvolt to build multibillion-dollar plant in Quebec
Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturing giant, says it will build a new multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery plant east of Montreal. Quebec leaders are calling it the largest private investment in the province’s history — along with billions in public funding — but others say it carries no guarantees it will pay off for taxpayers.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault were in Montreal Thursday morning alongside other ministers and Northvolt executives for the announcement.
The first phase of the project, valued at $7 billion in total investment, will have an annual battery cell manufacturing capacity of up to 30 GWh. It will also create up to 3,000 jobs in the region as the plant reaches its full production potential.

6 July
Electrical engineer in Montreal has a solar answer to hydro bill
(CTV) A man from Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough believes he has a solution to hydro consumption from air conditioners, fans and heat pumps after creating a hybrid solar system that he says cuts energy use.
“The solar panel cable goes up and all around and goes to the solar panels on the roof where the electrical one, it goes in the house, and it connects to your normal electrical distribution panel,” he said.
Power outage affects nearly 200,000 Hydro-Quebec clients in Montreal
On the Island of Montreal, more than 198,000 customers are affected by 169 different outages. Another 17,500 clients are affected in Montérégie.
The West Island is said to be the hardest hit by the 170 or so separate outages affecting the region.
The outages come on a day many Montrealers are using air conditioning and fans to keep cool: temperatures in Montreal are reaching 33 C, which will feel like 40 C with the humidity.

4 July
Allison Hanes: It’s up to environment minister to save precious wetlands
Benoit Charette may be the last hope for Hudson’s Sandy Beach after the Quebec Court of Appeal nullified his ministry’s attempt to cancel development permits.
Quebec’s highest court last month invalidated the Environment Ministry’s cancellation of a developer’s permit to backfill the wetlands and build more than 200 housing units overlooking Sandy Beach. This is the second time the ministry has lost in court after attempting to revoke its permission on the grounds that a) the wetlands have been found to be more extensive than originally thought and b) environmental laws have changed since it was issued, giving developers two years to conduct the work before the authorization expires.
The initial permit was granted in 2014 — almost a decade ago. And the law changed in 2017, in keeping with growing awareness about the importance of preserving biodiversity as part of the fight against climate change.
But Nicanco Holdings, which is planning the Sandy Beach project, challenged the ministry’s decision in court. The company teamed up with two other developers that had their permission to conduct work in wetlands in St-Hyacinthe and Laval quashed for the same reasons.
Their victory in Quebec Superior Court and now the Quebec Court of Appeal exposes both the dire consequences of past planning mistakes and the toothlessness of the 2017 update of the environmental protection legislation.

19 May
Quebec to spend $9 billion on green economy plan
Among the measures is more than $500 million to build charging stations and bring the number of electric vehicles on roads to 2 million.
The Quebec government intends to spend $514 million on a “recharge strategy” aimed at the growing number of electric vehicles in the province.
The Quebec government has now mapped out how it will achieve 60 per cent of its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, Premier François Legault said Friday as he announced an updated green economy plan.

5 May
Quebec invests $2.7M into electric vehicle tech for apartments and condos
(CTV) The Quebec government is granting $2.7 million to a project that will make it easier to charge electric vehicles (EVs) in apartments and condos.
Tech companies Recharge Véhicule Électrique (RVE) and Dimonoff, both based in Quebec, are developing software to power charging stations in a way that minimizes strain on the electrical network.
As it stands, most multi-unit buildings in Quebec can’t handle charging multiple EVs at once. The new tech would distribute power throughout the night rather than charging vehicles during peak hours.
“[This] will increase the accessibility of recharging to nearly 40 per cent of the Quebec population, i.e. those living in multi-unit buildings,” said RVE president David Corbeil in a press release.

15 April
Power’s back but questions remain. What can we learn from the Quebec ice storm for next time?
The ice storm that paralyzed Quebec and shut off power to much of the province earlier this month has now, officially, ended. The last customers affected by the storm were reconnected to the grid this week, Hydro-Québec said.
How is it possible in 2023 to have a distribution network that is this fragile?
Quebec’s auditor general raised some concerns about the state of Hydro-Québec’s network in a report [Power outages longer, more frequent as Hydro-Québec confronts aging infrastructure] in December.
The report flagged that outages were becoming more frequent in Quebec and were lasting longer in part because of the utility’s aging equipment, but also because Hydro-Québec had fallen behind on trimming back vegetation near wires.

2 February
First green hydrogen-powered passenger train in North America coming to Quebec
In a North American first, a passenger train powered by green hydrogen will be given a dry run this summer on a tourism rail line linking Quebec City to the east.
The Quebec government will invest $3 million into an $8-million pilot project showcasing the Alstom-built Coradia iLint train. It will be put into service for three or four months this summer on the hugely popular Chemin de fer Charlevoix tourist train line, Premier François Legault announced Thursday at a news conference.
Hydrogen is not used to directly propel the train. Instead the hydrogen is fed into a fuel cell that produces electric energy. For this experiment, the Quebec firm Harnois Énergies will produce and transport the needed hydrogen.
It is designed specifically for non-electrified trail lines and is quieter than a conventional train. The Chemin de fer Charlevoix runs a total of 148 kms, making stops in eight communities.
The announcement follows a week at the legislature where Quebec’s energy future has been front and centre. …
Following the premier’s comments last week that Quebec will need four or five new dams to meet future power demands, Hydro-Québec revealed that in order to meet the needs of all future potential investment, that number would have to be much higher: about 23,000 megawatts.
Economy and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon has said that number is not realistic and has revised the number down to 10,000 megawatts of additional electricity.
But it’s clear the government is ready to dabble in many options — including green hydrogen — to reach its goals of producing more power, stimulating investment at the same time as favouring companies producing limited greenhouse gas emissions.
L’hydrogène vert approvisionnera le tiers du transport lourd, croit Pierre Fitzgibbon
(Le Devoir) Le tiers du secteur des transports lourds devra être approvisionné par de l’hydrogène vert pour que la transition énergétique soit complète, a déclaré le ministre de l’Économie et de l’Énergie, Pierre Fitzgibbon, quelques jours après avoir tiré un trait sur la majorité des projets qui visent à développer ce nouveau carburant au Québec.
En conférence de presse, le ministre a affirmé qu’il ne savait « pas réellement » quelle sera la proportion d’hydrogène vert nécessaire pour que le Québec atteigne l’objectif de neutraliser les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) d’ici 2050, comme convenu dans le cadre d’accords internationaux sur les changements climatiques. « Il est clair pour nous que l’hydrogène va jouer un rôle dans les transports, a-t-il dit.

27 January
Power-hungry Quebec will soon need more hydro dams, Legault says
“We are able to build dams before 2041,” premier says, but won’t divulge which four or five rivers are being targeted by the government.
Premier François Legault said Friday that Quebec will need to build four or five new dams to meet future power demands, but won’t say which rivers are being targeted to avoid panicking any communities.

20 January
Robert Libman: Cheap power, but at what expense to Quebecers?
The government’s vision for Hydro-Québec should be a matter of public debate, as should how profits are earmarked
[Its] economic-development role has occasionally generated controversy over the years. …
The strategy of selling off our energy, often at discount rates, gobbles up a considerable part of the energy grid, meaning that more energy must be produced to satisfy domestic needs, which leads to more dams, diversion of rivers, flooding and other environmental concerns. In today’s digital economy, some of the most voracious energy-eaters are industrial warehouses filled with servers for crypto-currency production, online gambling or data centres, which provide minimal job creation. That is presumably what Brochu was referring to when she quipped that Quebec shouldn’t become “the Dollarama of electricity.”
Premier François Legault talks about building more dams to meet a growing demand for Quebec’s clean energy. He may be right in using Hydro-Quebec as a cash cow; Quebec desperately needs its billions in profits. But consumers are frustrated, often blindsided by power outages and hit with annual rate hikes.

10 January
CEO’s exit raises questions about Hydro-Québec’s independence: experts
Sophie Brochu had cast doubt on the wisdom of the CAQ government’s desire to lure new power-hungry industrial users to the province.
Sophie Brochu’s surprise resignation from her post as Hydro-Québec chief executive raises questions about the utility’s independence from the government, industry experts and opposition politicians say.
News of Brochu’s departure comes about three months after the executive cast doubt on the wisdom of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s desire to lure new power-hungry industrial users to the province, saying she would resist attempts to transform the state-owned utility into a “dollar store” of electricity.
“We’re in shock. It’s very disappointing,” Nicolas Cloutier, head of the professional union of Hydro-Québec engineers known by its French acronym, SPIHQ, said in an interview. With Côté, the Hydro-Québec chair, scheduled to leave in May, “there will be a leadership void.”
In October, SPIHQ issued a press release to back Brochu and criticize the government for wanting to intervene in the company’s energy transition strategy.