CAQ government looking to abandon $600M wind farm on Quebec's North Shore

The Quebec government wants out of the contentious Apuiat wind farm projectand has tapped Hydro-Qubec to come up with an exit strategy, Radio-Canada has learned.

TheApuiatproject, first proposed in 2015, istoproduce an estimated 200 megawatts annually from about 50 wind turbines on Quebec's North Shore, near the town of Port-Cartier.

Backed by the former Liberal government, the $600-million project was highly criticized by theCAQ'sFranoisLegault during the election campaign.

"We're not going to obligeHydro-Qubecto produce electricity we do not need,"Legaultsaid Sept. 13, during the first televised debate on Radio-Canada.

The minister of energy and natural resources, JonatanJulien, said the CAQ government'sposition hasn't changed.

"In a context where we have an energy surplus, this project isn't profitable," said Julien Tuesday.

Innu consortium demands meeting

The wind farm is beingdeveloped by Boralex, aprivate renewable energy firm,inpartnership with nineInnucommunities on the North Shore and in the Lac-Saint-Jean region. Under the proposal,Hydro-Qubecwould buy electricity from the consortium.

Hydro-Qubecconcluded a draft contract with promoters in Augustbut agreed to wait until after the Oct. 1 election to finalizethe deal.

The governmentwill now "take the time to meet with the involved parties and First Nations before making our decision final, " said Julien.

SocitApuiat, which represents the Innu stakeholders,and Boralex released a joint statement Tuesday, saying they were "disappointed to learn of the government's intention regarding our project" without having had a chance to present it to thenew government.

The fact that that the government is now expressing its lack of support for the project without having spoken to the Innu promoters yet is unacceptable, said the Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador,Ghislain Picard.

"The Innu Nation is the promoter of the project for me, it's important that the promoter isn't left out of such an important decision," he said.

Some 300 to 400 jobs would be created during the construction phase of the project, with 10 to 15 permanent jobs staying in the region to maintain the operation over the next 25 years, according to the promoters.

For Alain Thibault, themayor of Port-Cartier, where many of those jobs would land, the CAQ'shasteto pull the plug on the project comes as a surprise, after what he thought was a promising meeting with Julien last week.

"He really seemed interested in the project. He was asking a lot of questions on why we needed this in Port-Cartier," said Thibault.

He said if Apuiat is dropped, theCAQwill have a hard time promoting any new venturesin the region.

"Every time he will want to break ground in Nitassinan [the Innuterritory], he will have to sit down with them."

"The Innuare no longer in a mindset of just receiving annuity from the government," said SocitApuiat in its statement."On the contrary, Innuwant to implement their own investment projects, to build something that is sustainable and renewable, to develop expertise and pride."

One of the premier's main arguments against the project during the election campaign was the Hydro-Qubec president and CEOricMartel's lack of support for the wind farm, made public in a letterlast August.

The Apuiat project would cost the Crown corporation $1.5 to $2 billion over 25 years, Martel said in that letter.

Boralex and SocitApuiatchallenge that analysis in their statement, claimingthatby the time the wind farm would be up and runningin 2022, "the margin of manoeuvre Quebec has in its energy supply will be running out."

- with files from Radio-Canada's SbastienBovet