Agenda of Legault Government in Quebec
Premier's Choice of Cabinet Ministers Confirms Pay-the-Rich Agenda
Premier François Legault announced on October 20 the formation of his cabinet. Pierre Fitzgibbon, the previous government's Minister of Economy and Innovation, became, as well, the Energy Minister in the new government.
The argument presented by circles close to Fitzgibbon is that as Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy he is responsible for Hydro-Québec, and can more easily intervene in managing the energy demands of companies wanting to establish themselves in Quebec. He will be in the best position to "define what company will bring in the most wealth with the available kilowatt-hours," as one source close to Fitzgibbon declared.
Already big
industrial plants set up in Quebec that require a lot of
energy to operate, such as aluminum smelters, pay a hydro rate
of
around five cents per kilowatt-hour for the energy they use.
Meanwhile
the cost associated with the most recent hydro dams built by
Hydro-Québec is around 11
cents per kilowatt-hour. This difference between the energy cost
and
the rate offered by Hydro-Québec to these monopolies is a
disguised pay-the-rich scheme where ultimately it is the people
of
Quebec who foot the bill through increased residential and
commercial
hydro rates.
Hydro-Québec CEO Sophie Brochu, in a radio interview on October 12, openly said that she doesn't want Hydro-Québec to become the "Dollarama" of electricity for these huge private interests whose eyes are set on Quebec because Hydro-Québec also generates what qualifies as "sustainable green energy." Here is what she said: "What we should not be doing is attracting an undue number of industrial kilowatt-hours that want to pay cheap rates, and then be building dams to power them because we lack the energy." Brochu already threatened last spring to resign after some heated exchanges between herself and Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy at the time.
An October 18 statement issued by the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL), referring to the moves of governent to seize Indigenous lands and resources, said that "after over four years of difficult, even conflictive relations with the various ministers with an economic vocation, the AFNQL can't help but be concerned about the possibility of the appointment of a superminister of the Economy." The statement pointed out, "First Nations are Nations of their own with full rights, who have established, over the millennia of their existence and presence on the land, their own governments, their own laws and practices for the benefit of their populations and of the sustainable development of their territories and resources, and whose rights are confirmed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
In a speech given after the swearing-in of his Cabinet, Legault tried to downplay all the criticism around this new mega Economy and Energy ministry. This is why Legault announced that he is setting up an Energy Transition Committee that he will chair, comprised of the ministers of the Economy, Innovation and Energy; Finance; the Environment; and Relations with First Nations and Inuit, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and the CEO of Hydro-Québec.
State
Subsidization of "Sustainable Green Energy" to Process Critical
Minerals
Part of the "energy transition" Premier Legault refers to has to do with what the Legault government calls a "global hub for the battery industry," planned for in the industrial and port area of Bécancour in central Quebec.
Many mining and manufacturing monopolies involved in the production of components for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have already announced in 2022, their intention to set up operations in the Bécancour region along the St. Lawrence River for the processing of lithium, nickel and graphite, some of the minerals which the U.S. claims are critical to its national security. While claiming to be in favour of a green economy, they are also demanding hydroelectricity rates that they consider favourable to their own narrow private interests.
For example, in June the Brazilian mining oligopoly Vale announced plans to set up a plant in Bécancour with an annual capacity to process 25,000 tonnes of nickel sulfide into nickel sulphate, the chemical compound used in the production of pre-cathode active materials for nickel-based lithium-ion batteries. The nickel would come from its mining operations in Voisey's Bay, Labrador or Sudbury, Ontario.
The Bécancour industrial park is also home to two other large-scale projects: one by the German firm BASF and the other by the alliance between south Korean steel company POSCO and U.S.vehicle manufacturer General Motors for the production of cathode materials -- the main component of the lithium-ion battery. Nickel is also used in the manufacture of the cathodes of these same batteries, which explains Vale's interest in Bécancour.
The graphite used
for manufacturing anode-components for lithium-ion
batteries is currently extracted 120 kilometres north of
Montreal at
the Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) open-pit mine that has been
approved
by the Quebec government, without all the environmental studies
requested by the Office
of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) having been
completed. NMG
is owned in part by the British Group Pallinghurst and
Investissement
Québec and now also by Japanese Mitsui and Panasonic, who
announced on October 20 that they are investing $25 million
(U.S.) with
a matching amount by
Pallinghurst and Investissement Québec of $12.5 million
(U.S.)
each. The extracted graphite is of high purity and could also be
used
for weapons production. It is to be processed at a future
refinery
plant to be built in Bécancour, part of "completely new
integrated anode production in Canada."[1]
Already in April, both the
federal and Ontario governments announced unspecified hundreds
of
millions of dollars in handouts to the Europe-based Stellantis
and LG
Energy Solution from south Korea "to build a $5 billion electric
vehicle battery plant in Windsor."
In Sorel, less than 100 kilometres upstream from Bécancour, the plant owned by the Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto processes the titanium ore from Havre St-Pierre to extract titanium dioxide and scandium oxide, two other strategic minerals that have military applications.
On October 11, during a visit to the plant, Prime Minister Trudeau and François-Philippe Champagne, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced federal government grants of $222 million to Rio Tinto to proceed with "electrifying furnaces and replacing coal" for "decarbonizing" the plant's operations. Rio Tinto has already announced that if "the conditions are right" it will also proceed with refining lithium from a number of international sources at the same plant.
It goes without saying that for these wealthy private interests, obtaining a hydroelectricity rate from the Quebec government they consider favourable will be a determining factor in whether they proceed with these projects in Bécancour and Sorel.
Guy Leblanc, CEO of Investissement Québec, which provides funding for Quebec's Ministry of Economy and Innovation, said last summer: "We are in discussion with several groups. It's confirmed: the entire chain will be established in Quebec. For the first time in Quebec's history, we will be processing our minerals on site."
Even if this processing is done on site, there is no indication that the Legault government will be able to control where these processed minerals end up. In other words, in the critical minerals supply chain, the extraction and initial processing is not under the control of the Legault government but rather that of large, primarily Anglo-American and Japanese private interests competing with China and Russia.
Note
1. Although presented as only useful for electric vehicle batteries, graphite is also a component of military instruments and weapons, such as the graphite bombs used by NATO in the 1995 bombing of Yugoslavia. The graphite bomb is one of the weapons developed by the U.S. military to paralyze electrical equipment without destroying it permanently. When exploding close to the ground, this bomb releases thousands of microscopic carbon fibres that infiltrate all electrical systems -- power plants, transformers and high voltage substations or telecommunication systems -- and creates gigantic short-circuits. See "Green Electrification and Mining Plans that Clash with the People's Wishes," by Pierre Soublière, TML Daily, September 30, 2022.
This article was published in
Volume 52
Number 10 - October 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/M520105.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca