2023-11-16 05:00:00
Despite the flow of billions of dollars of public funds into the battery sector, Investissement Québec (IQ) has no significant document to provide in two years on the various risks linked to this strategy dear to the Legault government, which experts denounce.
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“We put all our eggs in one basket. If in five and eight years the batteries are outdated, what are we going to do with our factories, which will have cost us billions?” asks Luc Bernier, professor at the Higher School of Public Affairs and international studies at the University of Ottawa.
“The government must be more transparent and more demanding when it comes to risk assessment. It makes no sense,” says Saidatou Dicko, professor of accounting at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), an expert in governance.
Saidatou Dicko, governance expert Photo taken from the UQAM website
Lots of resistance in Quebec
On June 15, 2022, The newspaper asked the Ministry of the Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE), in request for access to information, for documents from the last two years relating to the risks linked to the battery sector.
The MEIE refused to provide them because they contain “essentially information relating to a ministerial recommendation produced for the Executive Council or corresponding to drafts or drafts”.
The Ministry of the Economy also asked the Journal to contact Investissement Québec (IQ), which in turn refused to transmit them.
The newspaper challenged this decision in August 2022. A year later, a notice of settlement was filed.
In a sworn statement, Danielle Vivier, director of access to information at IQ, indicated that there is only one document relating to the risks linked to the battery sector for this period of two years.
Redacted study provided by IQ
This is a 78-page study by Hatch on nickel supply, with several pages redacted. This particularly highlights the importance of securing this raw material in the battery sector, with a giant like Vale for example.
Redacted study provided by IQ
The last days, The newspaper questioned IQ, the MEIE and the office of the Minister of the Economy to find out how many studies have been produced in total on the risks linked to the battery sector. The response came from the firm which indicated that only one study had been produced to date.
The firm defends itself
When The newspaper asked the minister’s office if it is important to know the risks linked to the battery sector at a time when the Quebec state is injecting billions of dollars from taxpayers’ pockets into it, the latter replied that this work was already being done.
“Of course. We assess risks on an ongoing basis. Our teams at MEIE and IQ are on the lookout,” assured its spokesperson Mathieu St-Amand.
“The due diligence which is carried out systematically during each financial intervention in the battery sector is rigorous, and takes into account all the risks inherent to the intervention, whether financial, social or governance. We are in the right place,” he concluded.
-With the collaboration of Sylvain Larocque
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