The output of the CEO of Hydro-Quebec is a “disclaimer” for the project of the CAQ, said Gaudreault

Archival Photo Simon Clark
The spokesperson for the PQ in terms of the environment, Sylvain Gaudreault

Patrick Bellerose

Tuesday, 9 January 2018 17:02

UPDATE
Tuesday, 9 January 2018 17:07

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In saying that it could not justify the construction of new dams, the CEO of Hydro-Québec has served as “a slap in the face very clear” to the project of James bay in the 21st century by François Legault says the PQ.

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“It is polite, but it sends a message of disapproval to the place of François Legault and his game plan of building new dams,” says the spokesperson for the PQ in terms of the environment, Sylvain Gaudreault.

In an interview with The Newspaper, the pattern of Hydro-Québec, Éric Martel, has said that the consumption of hydro-electricity stagnates in Quebec and may soon decline. This will result in a surplus that Hydro-Québec will have to sell them on foreign markets or by attracting businesses energy-intensive.

“There is still a huge potential : it could double our production of hydroelectric power, but today I can’t, as president and CEO of Hydro-Québec, to justify the construction of a new dam,” he confided to the Journal.

James bay in the 21st century

Despite these surpluses, the leader of the CAQ, François Legault, wants to build new plants to increase exports by hydro-electricity from Quebec, a project he has dubbed the “James bay in the 21st century”.

Sylvain Gaudreault believes that François Legault will have to disclose details of his plan, announced with great fanfare at a conference of the CAQ in November 2016 before the elections next fall. “He needs to be accountable, says the critic of the parti québecois. It should say what river it is designed, how it is going to build [the dams], for which markets and at what price.”

In a response sent via e-mail, the CAQ’s always said “wish that Hydro-Québec is increasing its electricity exports, and is planning the construction of future dams.” “For the old parties, they certainly have no lessons to give with their joint project of a cement factory in Port-Daniel, who has sucked hundreds of millions of money from the government to build the plant, the most polluting of Quebec,” said one of its press officers, Ewan Safe.