The Bloc Québécois believes that the industrial port area of Saguenay can play an important role in the development of Quebec’s battery sector.
• Also read: Power sector: Lion’s big boss’s pay doubles despite stock market slump
• Also read: Quebec paid McKinsey $5 million to “validate” Fitzgibbon’s priorities.
Leader Yves-François Blanchet presented the party’s proposals to around twenty stakeholders from Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean on Monday.
“We will support the region in this sector,” the chef said during a press conference at the end of the meeting.
“Clean energy is in Quebec, know-how is in Quebec, minerals like lithium and phosphate are in Quebec. So it has to be done in Quebec!” he added.
The Arianne and First Phosphate mining projects, which are progressing normally at Saguenay, are leading the Bloc to propose the recognition of phosphate as a strategic mineral.
With all of these projects, is the proposed shipping likely to be considered too heavy for the Saguenay River?
“There are engine options, technological means [pout] Reduce boat noise and speed to limit impact on marine mammals,” the chief replied.
“Arianne Phosphate has an agreement to export its ore using Rio Tinto’s empty ships,” he continued.
The Bloc Québécois also supports the construction of a bridge between Tadoussac and Baie-Sainte-Catherine.
“To ease the pressure on the Saguenay River without hurting economic development too much,” the chief said.
Mr Blanchet’s visit coincided with the strike by the Jonquière control center staff. The bloc has long proposed a unified tax return.
“I don’t see any logical scenario where we would take over federal service and reclassify workers into some other type of work with lower wages and worse conditions,” he added.
The bloc advocates a regional and independent aluminum observatory, as well as supporting secondary and tertiary processing in the forest industry and maintaining supply management.
These issues are paramount in the minds of many stakeholders in the region.