Minister to offer amendment to Mining Act
CAQ supports bill; Liberals are wary
QUEBEC — Martine Ouellet, Quebec’s natural resources minister, plans to present a new bill in the National Assembly on Thursday to amend the province’s Mining Act.
The present law gives a mining company the power to stake a claim anywhere minerals are found, including in residential areas, and provides environmental protection that environmentalists deem inadequate.
These issues would be addressed in the new bill, which would also drop a veto power proposed in Ouellet’s earlier mining bill, Bill 43, that would have allowed the natural resources minister to impose conditions on mining projects. The two main opposition parties objected to this approach.
The assembly is to adjourn Friday for its winter break and Ouellet said she would like the co-operation of all members in the assembly to suspend the rules and fasttrack adoption of her bill on the final day.
“Everything is possible when we have the support of the opposition,” Ouellet told reporters.
The Coalition Avenir Québec is onside with Ouellet. CAQ Leader François Legault said Wednesday he is even willing to extend the assembly session into next week to adopt the bill, which he deems essential to restore investors’ confidence so they will resume investing in Quebec mining projects.
“I don’t know why the Liberal Party would refuse to adopt this bill rapidly,” Legault told reporters, adding that François Bonnardel, his party’s natural resources critic, after consulting with both mining companies and environmentalists, proposed to Ouellet the essential points that all parties can agree on.
Ouellet confirmed that she incorporated suggestions made by Bonnardel, and took account of Liberal objections to her Bill 43, which was defeated Oct. 20 with the Liberals and CAQ voting against and Québec solidaire abstaining.
At a news conference, Pierre Moreau, the Liberal house leader, objected that Ouellet had not consulted with the Liberals, saying this shows the minister’s “arrogance,” and indicating the Liberals would not give Ouellet the fast-track she is seeking.
Ouellet admitted she had not called the Liberals, saying the Liberals do not seem to have the will to work with her.
“I am completely ready to work with them but it takes a willingness on their part,” she said.
Ouellet’s new bill would mark the fourth attempt in recent years to update the Mining Act.
When the Liberals were in power, Liberal mining critic Jean D’Amour recalled, Ouellet mounted a 200-hour filibuster to block a Liberal mining bill.
But D’Amour denied the Liberal wariness to deal with Ouellet is a personal vendetta.