QS wants economy to run on batteries

Québec solidaire hopes to launch an “ecological revolution” by making the province “a world leader in the production of batteries.”

Manon Massé, the party ’s leader and candidate for premier in the provincial election, unveiled its economic transition plan Friday in Montreal while accompanied by Ruba Ghazal, Québec solidaire’s candidate for the Mercier riding and its spokesperson on the environment.

Massé said her party was proposing a “veritable social project” to take on the “great challenge” of the ecological crisis.

She also said “Quebec does not lack the means nor the knowledge required to become a leader in the matters of energetic transition.”

According to her, it is possible, with the political will, to move away from hydrocarbons, to create 300,000 green jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec by 48 per cent by 2030.

That 48 per cent is a first target, she specified while adding it will be necessary to see a reduction of 95 per cent of emissions by 2050.

She announced that a Québec solidaire government would invest in the development of a lithiumbased material that is part of the composition of electric batteries.

The party also hopes to make Quebec a world leader in the production of recyclable batteries.

If elected on Oct. 1, Québec solidaire promises to “develop a complete value chain of lithium in Quebec, from its extraction to its transformation.” A government led by Massé also supports the creation of an “electric economy cluster,” in producing batteries, but also in recycling and reusing lithium.