Pierre Fitzgibbon, a minister like no other

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

Alex Fontaine

Published yesterday at 6:09 PM Updated yesterday at 7:10 PM

• Québec

Pierre Fitzgibbon is not one to mince his words. He has upset many Quebecers by talking about changes to their lifestyles. He has also given the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly a lot of work. A look back at the escapades of a character who leaves no one indifferent.

Pheasant Hunting

Pierre Fitzgibbon’s past as a businessman has often played tricks on him. In October 2022, he went to the private island of an entrepreneur friend for a pheasant hunting trip. On the agenda: helicopter transport, shooting sessions, cocktails and meals. The minister was in the company of business people who have ties to the Quebec government, raising the ire of the opposition, who saw this as a conflict of interest. While the Ethics Commissioner did not find any breach of ethics, she urged the minister to “exercise vigilance” to avoid crossing the line between personal and professional spheres.

Northvolt and journalists

The decision not to submit the Northvolt battery plant project to a review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) earned the “superminister” his share of criticism. Pierre Fitzgibbon responded by openly criticizing the work of two journalists covering the issue closely: Alexandre Shields, from Devoir, and Thomas Gerbet, from Radio-Canada. “These two activists will remain journalists for a long time and I will soon leave this job of politician, it is not true that I will let such falsehoods be written,” he wrote in an email addressed to a citizen, last March.

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The dishwasher

“We, the consumers, may have to change our habits. We'll do the dishes at midnight,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon in December 2022. By mentioning the possibility of modulating Hydro-Québec's residential rates to encourage customers to consume outside peak periods, the minister struck a chord. To the point where the Prime Minister, François Legault, wanted to clarify that Hydro-Québec subscribers will not have to program their device at night to benefit from a better rate.

Carbon neutrality

“Lower fuel taxes ? I think we should raise them, if we do something,” Minister Fitzgibbon told the parliamentary press last May. He later clarified that the government had “no intention of raising the gas tax.” In August 2023, he had already provoked a reaction by stating that the size of the vehicle fleet would have to be reduced by at least a third to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, he specified that he did not want to force people to change their habits, preferring to rely on major public transit projects to convince the population to abandon their cars.

No friends in politics

Since 2019, six reports from the Ethics Commissioner on five separate cases have targeted the resigning MP. He has often found himself in trouble for conflict of interest issues. In particular, the Commissioner reprimanded the minister for transferring shares to a lobbyist friend, a situation where Mr. Fitzgibbon’s personal interest could “influence his independence of judgment.” This earned him a reprimand for lack of ethics, a first for a minister in the National Assembly.