Link: https://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Mining+bill+defeat+major+setback/9103574/story.html
QUEBEC — The Parti Québécois government suffered a major setback Wednesday when the Coalition Avenir Québec joined the opposition Liberals to defeat its Mining Act.
Québec solidaire, which usually votes with the PQ government, abstained on Bill 43, which would have tightened up environmental requirements for mines and oblige companies to do more processing of minerals in the province. The bill would have also allowed municipalities to veto mining projects, while giving the natural resources minister the power to terminate mining leases.
Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet called the defeat “completely irresponsible” saying the bill would have brought the rules for miners in Quebec in line with those in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
She accused the opposition parties of practising “petty politics” and being against processing, or transformation, of minerals in the province.
When Ouellet was PQ opposition critic on mining, two Liberal bills, meant to update Quebec’s Mining Act, were not passed in the face of PQ obstruction.
But Ouellet did have allies Wednesday.
Rimouski Mayor Éric Forrest, president of the Union des municipalités du Québec -— noting this was the third failed attempt to update Mining Act — said in a statement: “What’s at stake is too important to continue in this way.”
And the environmentalist group, Québec meilleure mine, said the opposition parties could have proposed amendments at the committee stage, before the final vote on the bill.
Ouellet said she was open to changes and that the mining companies want stability, noting that the opposition parties agreed with most of her bill, which is also in line with the transparency requirements of the New York Stock Exchange.
But the Association minière du Québec, representing the mining industry in the province, said in a statement that Bill 43 would have “greatly harmed” mining in Quebec. The group had countered with 59 proposed amendments “to maintain a strong mining activity here, respecting people and the environment.”
Liberal mining critic Jean D’Amour said adopting Bill 43 would have been irresponsible.
He said Ouellet did not respond to Liberal proposals: “We have no confidence in this minister.”
Ouellet replied that she answered the Liberals in an Oct. 11 news release.
CAQ leader François Legault told reporters that Ouellet did not respond to an offer by his party to work through the summer on amendments that would make Bill 43 acceptable to him.
“The only phone call we got was at 10 to 10 a.m. this morning before the vote,” he said Wednesday.
National Assembly question period starts at 10 a.m. and the vote was immediately afterward, leaving no time for discussions.
“We have a government of amateurs who wake up, who maybe a few minutes ago, understood they are a minority and that they need the support of one of the two parties to advance their bill,” Legault said.
The CAQ is not opposed to more processing of minerals in Quebec, but he predicted there would be no new mining investments in the province had the bill been adopted.
“There is no question of leaving a discretionary power with a minister in whom we have no confidence,” he said.
Asked what she plans to do next, Ouellet said the government has limited powers to make changes by regulation, saying a new bill is a possibility.