Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon resigns

Photo: Karoline Boucher Archives The Canadian Press Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon

Isabelle Porter and Marie-Michèle Sioui in Quebec City

Published at 14:03 Updated at 17:38

• Quebec

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The Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy in the Legault government, Pierre Fitzgibbon, is resigning. The news broke while the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) was holding its pre-sessional caucus in Rimouski on Tuesday.

“Pierre Fitzgibbon will first speak to the members of Parliament this evening,” Premier François Legault told reporters at the entrance to the caucus in the afternoon. “I will meet with you [Wednesday] morning, with Pierre Fitzgibbon, to give you all the details,” he said before walking away.

The rumors about Mr. Fitzgibbon’s departure are not new. In his entourage, the news came as little surprise, since he had already confided his intentions to a few people. From the outset, business circles had been preparing for his departure for months.

This departure also takes place in a context where Mr. Fitzgibbon’s pet project, Northvolt, is facing difficulties. The government’s decision not to submit the project to the Bureau d’audiences publiques en environnement (BAPE) is also the subject of persistent criticism. On Tuesday morning, the minister defended the government’s approach to this matter. “I’m going to take the blame for poor communication,” he told Mario Dumont.

Coming from the business community, Mr. Fitzgibbon will be 70 years old next November. He was first elected in 2018 under the CAQ banner in the Terrebonne riding. He held the position of Minister of the Economy and Innovation since the party’s first mandate, and was also subsequently given the Energy portfolio.

Recently, in a press scrum, Premier François Legault said that his colleague and friend might, at age 70, get tired of answering journalists’ questions and want to move on. Always vague about his intentions, the main person concerned had shown himself to be keen to prepare his successor.

An orphan bill

Pierre Fitzgibbon had presented an imposing bill on electricity management in Quebec in the spring. Bill 69 notably opened the door to the modulation of residential electricity rates.

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Since the study of the bill is to begin in Parliament next week, bets are open on the identity of the person who will be tasked with defending it. Tuesday afternoon, the interim leader of the Liberal opposition, Marc Tanguay, stressed that “about forty groups” were expected in parliamentary committee. “Who will be able to answer all our questions next Tuesday ?” he said. A little earlier, his MNA responsible for the energy file, Marwah Rizqy, had gone further, asking that the bill be withdrawn outright.

“It’s a loss for Quebec, because we don’t have a lot of business people who are in politics,” the elected official nevertheless declared. “The CAQ, with this departure, is no longer the party of the economy. » His leader also spoke of “a hard blow” for François Legault, who is losing the equivalent of his “quarterback.”

In an interview Tuesday morning, Mr. Fitzgibbon had said he was hopeful that the bill would be passed before the end of the year.

The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), for his part, believes that François Legault must first find a replacement for the minister and reshuffle his cabinet. “What are we going to do next week?? The person who pushed for this project is disappearing,” asked Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “We are inviting the government to take a break,” added the party's energy spokesperson, Pascal Paradis.

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon also argued that it was “not normal” for an elected official to “abandon his mandate if it is not for health reasons.”

A “quick by-election” requested

According to sources close to the Prime Minister, Mr. Fitzgibbon had initially intended to leave his position in December, but Mr. Legault asked him to leave now so that the issue would not dominate the media all fall.

The departure of Minister Fitzgibbon also forces a potentially grueling by-election in the Terrebonne riding for the CAQ government, from which the PQ has already taken Jean-Talon. According to the Qc125 electoral projection tool, the PQ also has a good chance of winning.

Already, local elected officials are urging François Legault to launch an election race. In a press release sent Tuesday afternoon, the president of the Table des préfets et des élus de la couronne nord and mayor of Deux-Montagnes, Denis Martin, called for “a quick by-election” so that a new MNA can take on the thorny issue of public transit.

Before the CAQ came to power in 2018, the Terrebonne riding was represented by PQ member Mathieu Traversy for 10 years. He was then elected mayor of the City of Terrebonne. In the last election, the PQ was represented by Geneviève Couture, a candidate from the marketing world.

With Boris Proulx