At a parliamentary committee meeting this morning, the CAQ instructed opposition MNAs to do a detailed section-by-section review of Bill 69. This means that the MNAs with the government will refuse to hear reports by experts from CUPE and Hydro-Québec locals, representing more than 16,000 members.
In addition, when opposition MNAs who are members of the committee proposed that specific decarbonization targets be added to the act, the minister replied insistently that the bill called for the development of an integrated energy resource management plan only after the bill was assented to.
“The government is announcing that Bill 69 will not have any roadmap or any legally binding targets! But what energy transformation is the minister talking about?” asked Patrick Gloutney, president of CUPE Quebec.
“Former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon led the people of Quebec to believe that the bill called for responsible management of energy resources on our territory, but that’s just smoke and mirrors. The legislation has no specific plan, no clear targets and no details about objectives to reduce the consumption of gas or petroleum products, nothing,” added Gloutney.
“Like many civil society groups, CUPE expected better from minister Fréchette, who took over the reins of the Ministry of the Economy. Unfortunately, she’s just one of many in the government that struggles to take on its environmental and societal responsibilities,” explained Pierre-Guy Sylvestre, an economist and union representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
CUPE is demanding that a clear roadmap be inserted in the legislation to guarantee, at a time when a climate emergency is upon us, that a bona fide and sustainable industrial policy for Quebec see the light of day. In passing, CUPE saluted the commitment expressed by MNAs Haroun Bouazzi (Québec solidaire) and Pascal Paradis (Parti québécois) to Hydro-Québec’s environmental and social mission as part of the study of the bill.
“The privatization of electricity assets in Quebec will certainly favour some shareholders concealed within some limited partnerships, but it will harm Quebec’s local and overall socioeconomic development. It will denationalize electricity utilities and drive up the rates for those who are less well-off and for small and medium-sized businesses,” added Pierre-Guy Sylvestre.
Next March 22, CUPE Quebec will be holding a series of demonstrations across Quebec to advocate for access to electricity affordable to all and for the preservation of Hydro-Quebec as a public lever serving the common good.