Around 53% of Quebecers support the construction of the 7 billion Northvolt mega-factory in Montérégie, according to a new survey commissioned by a group of environmental organizations. This is around 20 percentage points less than the recent survey conducted by Léger for the Swedish company.
31% of the approximately 1,100 people surveyed said they were “very favorable” to the project, and 22% “favorable”, for a total of 53%. Conversely, 30% of respondents disagree and 17% are undecided.
By isolating CAQ voters only, overall support reaches no less than 82%, while among the Liberals, it is 52%. The PQ are in agreement at 58%, while the solidarity and conservatives are barely 30% and 23% supporting the current project.
The Pallas Dalta firm carried out the exercise with a random sample of 1,122 people aged 18 and over on February 24. The exercise was carried out through calls made by interactive voice response, in other words by an automated method on the telephone.
The new poll comes just two days after that of Northvolt, which estimated that 72% of Quebecers believe that the battery cell factory, built on former industrial land that straddles Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, is “rather a good project”.
Eight environmental groups are behind this probe, including the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE), which is still contesting the green light from the Legault government in court despite a rejection in the Superior Court. Équiterre, Eau Secours, the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada, Nature Québec, SNAP Québec and the Quebec Common Front for Ecological Management are also there.
The groups argued in a joint statement Wednesday that “nearly one in five respondents say they are undecided about the project.” “The government would do well to ensure that the population is better informed of the ins and outs of the latter,” they insisted.
A BAPE reaches consensus
Regardless of political allegiance, it appears from the survey that there is broad consensus on holding a consultation by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE). On average, around 68% of respondents surveyed agree with this possibility. In Northvolt’s poll Monday, that figure was very similar, at about 67 percent.
Remember that the BAPE mechanism notably requires the promoter to present an impact study and answer questions from the public. The Bureau then transmits its recommendations to the government.
At this time, Northvolt is not subject to this procedure. The company benefits from the modification of a regulation by Quebec, which raised the ceiling of coverage of the regulatory framework for battery materials factories.
Moreover, 53% of Quebecers say they are unfavorable to the government’s decision to remove Northvolt from a BAPE. Among the Caquists, this figure drops to 22%, but remains very strong among all other voters. On average, however, around 36% of them support Quebec in this intention, and 11% are undecided.
“The best method to ensure the population’s support for the projects proposed by the Quebec government is to follow the rules in place,” persisted the environmentalist coalition on Wednesday, accusing the government of having by his actions “led to distrust of his decisions”.
All this occurs in a context of high tensions in this matter. Earlier, Wednesday, the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, assured that the official who associated the authorization given to Northvolt to destroy wetlands with a “government order” was not familiar with the file. He assured “that no political pressure” was exerted on the employees responsible for the file.
With Julien Arsenault, The Press
reference: www.lapresse.ca