Former Prime Minister Philippe Couillard, met the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, to present the Britishvolt firm’s battery cell plant project to him in Bécancour.
“The meeting, which went well, was a usual first contact to present the management of Britishvolt to the minister and a review of the status and projects of the company,” Philippe Couillard told the Journal, here.
At the office of the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, we confirm that we had this meeting in early October, without saying more.
“The project is still in analysis and we will not make any more comments”, underlined its press officer, Mathieu St-Amand regarding the project of factory of lithium-ion cells of the English firm Britishvolt.
Last April, Philippe Couillard said he had had “advanced preliminary” discussions with Investissement Québec to build the battery factory here for Britishvolt Canada, of which he is one of the directors.
The newspaper also reported that he had registered as a lobbyist in Quebec to obtain public funds from Hydro-Quebec, Investissement Quebec and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation.
“It requires very significant financial contributions from governments because the factories are very expensive and the time for profitability is very long,” explained the former leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), to illustrate the fact that the chain of global value is heavily concentrated in China.
Yesterday, the mayoress of Bécancour, Lucie Allard, refused to comment on the file, but the big boss of Société du Parc Industrielle et Portuaire de Bécancour, Maurice Richard, stressed that the discussions were serious.
“This client [Britishvolt] is serious enough to have taken an option on a field and to do polls with a large firm called SNC-Lavalin, ”said Maurice Richard, who was once mayor of Bécancour.
Due to confidentiality agreements, Maurice Richard however stressed that he might not say more regarding the factory project of “several hundred million dollars”.
The member for the Nicolet-Yamaska riding added that the Bécancour Industrial Park and Port Corporation, which he heads, reports directly to the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation.
“We are the only industrial park, which belongs to the government of Quebec,” said Maurice Richard. “My immediate boss is the minister, Pierre Fitzgibbon,” continued the former PLQ elected official.
In recent years, the Legault government has bet big on the battery sector, which might require nearly two billion dollars in public funds, according to a McKinsey study, commissioned by Investissement Québec.
For Pierre Fitzgibbon, the electrification project, as a whole, is as major as “in the 1960s, power stations”, he has already illustrated on QUB radio.
–With the collaboration of Philippe Langlois
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