TRAN Committee Report
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Bloc Québécois’s Supplementary Opinion to the Study Report on the Participation of the Canada Infrastructure Bank in the Connection Project Under Lake Erie
NO TO FEDERAL INTERFERENCE IN QUEBEC’S JURISDICTIONS.
The Bloc Québécois thanks the members of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, its staff, analysts, and witnesses who provided us with valuable information on the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s (CIB) involvement in the Lake Erie Connector project, which involves building an undersea power line to connect Ontario’s electricity grid to the PJM Interconnection in the United States.
The CIB, by leading a partnership with a foreign company that unfairly attacks a Quebec company, as the American company "NextEra Energy Resources" did with Hydro Quebec, is an example that explains the Bloc Québécois lack of confidence in this federal government agency.
When we know that the US company "NextEra Energy Resources" has invested colossal sums, to say the least dubious, to undermine the efforts of the "New England Clean Energy Connect". This demonstrates an unacceptable failure on the part of the CIB to have it as a partner.
In this demonstration, let us know that the "New England Clean Energy Connect" is promoting an electrification project on its territory and that Hydro Québec is its main supplier. For its part, the "NextEra Energy Resources" promoting energy investments in nuclear power, was thus fighting a hydroelectric project favorable to Hydro-Québec. A fight on the part of the "NextEra Energy Resources" marked by illegalities.
In a referendum process wanted by opponents of the "New England Clean Energy Connect" project, "NextEra Energy Resources" not only spent twenty million dollars in the camp against the "New England Clean Energy Connect" project, but also launched legal proceedings, among others, against Hydro-Québec.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. "NextEra Energy Resources" also secretly funded groups that opposed the project to counter Hydro-Québec and its partners. To achieve its goals, the American company hired the consulting firm "Hawthorn Group", which it used as a front company to fund well-known groups such as "Stop the Corridor" and "Alpine Initiatives". Funding that was found illegal by the Maine State Supreme Court following investigations by the State Ethics Commission. "Stop the Corridor" had to pay $50,000 in fines for not registering as a stakeholder in the referendum. "Alpine Initiatives" was fined $160,000 for failing to register as a political action committee after donating $150,000 to the Maine Democratic Party.
The Bloc Québécois finds it grotesque that the CIB is preparing to potentially offer money to the American company "NextEra Energy Resources" in the connection project under Lake Erie. While this company has used immoral subterfuges to fight the export of our electricity to the United States, the CIB is financing the import of electricity to Canada from this same American company with taxpayers’ money! You couldn’t make this up.
While we were relieved to see that the majority of committee members adopted our recommendations on this project, this study nevertheless revealed the intention of the federalist parties to interfere in an area of Quebec’s jurisdiction. Hydro Québec was built by Quebecers and for Quebecers, Ottawa’s intrusion is not welcome. This desire for federal interference in provincial jurisdictions was reflected in the committee members’ desire to encourage the federal government to get involved in the integration of provincial electricity networks. The Bloc Québécois repeats that it is up to Quebec and each province to decide how they manage their affairs. Period.
Sources :
https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2024/08/01/une-agence-dottawa-veut-financer-un-adversaire-dhydro-quebec
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