Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Quebec Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, responded to the opposition during question period in the National Assembly on January 30.
Sébastien Tanguay
8:33 p.m.
- Quebec
The government formalizes the purchase of Rabaska land, located in the east of Lévis, with a view to converting part of it into a “thematic” industrial zone. The transaction, made at a cost of $38 million, provides for the return of 109 hectares to agricultural use.
“We have just formally approved the acquisition of the Rabaska land,” launched the Minister of the Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, at the end of the Council of Ministers. “We will work with the City of Lévis and the Port of Quebec to see how we can organize the land to allow […] collective wealth. »
The lands of Rabaska total 272 hectares which face the south coast of Île d'Orléans. Excluded by decree from the green zone in 2007 to make way for a now abandoned LNG port project, they aroused the desire of the City of Lévis and the Port of Quebec, both lacking space to develop.
Even if the Union of Agricultural Producers demanded the return of the entire land to an agricultural zone, it welcomed Wednesday “good news for our collective pantry”. Québec solidaire, for its part, demands that the entire territory return to the green zone. “To face climate challenges, protecting agricultural land should be this government’s number one priority,” writes MP Sol Zanetti.
In the eyes of the Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Lévis, Bernard Drainville, the transaction “found a good balance between the industrial vocation and the agricultural vocation.” “It has enormous economic potential,” he added.
The maritime industry has the wind in its sails in Lévis: the inclusion of the Davie shipyard in the National Shipbuilding Strategy raises the hope of seeing the birth of an industrial cluster that Mayor Gilles Lehouillier dreams of as important as that of aerospace in Montreal.
The lands of Rabaska, bordering the river, include certain sections located in deep water. On Wednesday, Minister Fitzgibbon did not rule out the idea that a wharf be built to meet the ambitions of the Port of Quebec. Before establishing an industrial park whose “theme” remains to be defined, it will first be necessary to build transmission lines on these lands “where there is nothing”. “It could take two or three years to build them, if there are projects,” underlined the Minister of the Economy.
For the moment, no one has expressed a desire to put down roots on Rabaska land, but Mr. Fitzgibbon believes that “this territory is becoming very interesting” at a time when there is a lack of space to accommodate industrial projects. “There is the battery sector in Bécancour, but we are starting to run out of space. There are other sectors too: if there was an aluminum transformer, for example, I would be interested. »
However, it’s not just space that’s lacking: energy too. The minister who oversees the economy and energy in the government calculates that the pending projects require “around 12,000 MW” — electricity that Quebec does not have, according to the minister.
With François Carabin