http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
It seems anyone with any bit of interest in northern Quebec would like a few words with the province’s new natural resources minister.
International investors, mining companies, municipal politicians and environmental groups are all wondering what exactly the new Parti Québécois government is going to do about the development of the north. Promoted internationally by former premier Jean Charest, it appears the new government has buried the 25-year, $80-billion Plan Nord.
Last week, Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet said the Plan Nord was just “marketing” for northern mining projects that were under way or in the planning stages. The PQ intends to go ahead with northern development, she said, but not any which way. The government is planning to create an agency to co-ordinate activities, similar to the Société de Plan Nord that was planned by the Liberals, she told La Presse’s editorial board.
Environmental groups welcomed the news, but Ouellet’s comments raised questions about what happens next. Mining companies and international investors are taking a “wait-and-see” approach, said Nochane Rousseau, a partner in the Montreal office of PricewaterhouseCoopers and leader of the company’s mining industry services.
“People involved in the Plan Nord are very anxious to know the position of the government,” he said. “People want to know what will be changed, and if the minister wants to improve the plan, what the changes will be.”
The “Plan Nord” brand is dead, Rousseau said, but there’s no question the new government will have to go ahead with resource development in the north.
“In order to create wealth, we absolutely will have to develop our natural resources, and northern Quebec is overflowing with them,” he said.
In the north, politicians like Fermont Mayor Lise Pelletier worry that promised investments in infrastructure and services like daycares could be affected by the change of government. The population of her town, about 500 kilometres north of Baie-Comeau, doubled in less than a year when a new mine opened and a second expanded.
In July, Charest announced Quebec would invest $200 million in new infrastructure in northern regions. Pelletier said she wonders what will happen with those projects.
“We need infrastructure here, we have projects under way and I don’t want them to be slowed down because there’s been a change in government,” Pelletier said. “I’d like to have a meeting with the minister because we are in the midst of a mining boom here, and we’d like to see things finalized.”
Ouellet did not respond to interview requests from The Gazette.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Montreal Gazette website: http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/10/09/investors-mining-companies-politicians-environment-groups-waiting-for-pqs-vision-for-northern-quebec/