Former Liberal Environment Secretary David Heurtel is knocking on Energy Secretary Pierre Fitzgibbon’s door to get an energy block for a green hydrogen project in Val-d’Or and Saint Jerome.
“Notices to grant hydroelectric power blocks of 5 MW and more to power Hydrolux’s green hydrogen production plants to power vehicles,” we can read in the lobbyist register.
In 2017, David Heurtel, then Minister for Sustainable Development, Environment and Fighting Climate Change under Philippe Couillard, took an interest in hydrogen cars during a public event organized by the company of Japanese multinational Honda.
$10 billion sector
A few years later we learn that David Heurtel is asking the Minister for Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE), Pierre Fitzgibbon, for electricity in a sector where investment is set to increase.
In its Quebec Strategy for Green Hydrogen and Biofuels 2030, published last year, the CAQ government indicates that public and private projects in this sector could reach $10 billion in the coming years.
In March last year, Le Journal reported that a Belgian company close to the Desmarais clan had asked Hydro-Québec, Prime Minister François Legault, the energy minister and numerous cities to purchase energy for its “electricity production projects”, i.e. “renewable energy”. “.
No interview
In the last few days, the Fasken law firm, for which David Heurtel works, was quick to decline our interview request.
Hydrolux also preferred to refer to a journal press release published a year ago, which reported on a project for two green hydrogen fueling stations that would allow heavy-duty trucks to connect Greater Montreal and Abitibi.
Last September, Le Journal revealed that union members fretted over lobbying by former Minister David Heurtel to recruit workers from Slovenia, rather than Quebecers, to build Metro’s $420 million automated center in Terrebonne.
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