Last week, Hydro-Québec confirmed that another major wind farm will be established, this time in the Lower St. Lawrence, in the Kamouraska RCM, in partnership with the Alliance de l’énergie de l’Est, a limited partnership. Notwithstanding Hydro-Québec’s announcement, private interests will indeed be controlling the development and ultimately the pricing of this new form of electric energy.
“In spite of what the government is trying to have us believe, there’s no doubt that it’s in the process of authorizing projects that will increase the private sector’s share of electricity production in Quebec. Although the CAQ government never campaigned on the privatization of electricity in Quebec, this is exactly what François Legault is now doing. He’s seeing to it that the interests of a small group of individuals take precedence over the collective interests of citizens. At this rate, private sector electricity production will be nudging 25% in Quebec by 2035,” declared Patrick Gloutney, president of CUPE Quebec..
CUPE has relentlessly defended the Quebec model of electricity production, which has well served Quebec’s economic development for more than 50 years. The union is urging all parties in the National Assembly to denounce this disguised privatization.
“Quebec regions such as the Lower St. Lawrence need a hand to spur local economic growth, but as we see it, the obscure system of paying rebates to communities won’t be enough. There’s greater demand for more transparency to ensure us that governance is sound in the area of energy and industrial policy. We asked the Alliance de l’énergie de l’Est for public information on their contract, but they responded that this was confidential and hence inaccessible.” This isn’t a great start,” said CUPE economist Pierre-Guy Sylvestre.