Citizens of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville will have to wait before asking their questions to officials of the Legault government about the Northvolt megaproject, which will overlap these two municipalities. Next week’s information sessions have been postponed.
On Friday, it was not possible to know when these two meetings with government officials will take place.
“In order to properly identify citizens’ questions and properly prepare the sessions, it was deemed appropriate to collect citizens’ questions before the information sessions,” explains Jean-Pierre D’Auteuil, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy.
The format of the sessions will be determined “over the coming weeks.”
Estimated at 7 billion, the Northvolt complex – where battery cells will be produced, the last step before battery assembly – will straddle the two South Shore municipalities. This is the former land of the Canadian Industries Limited (CIL) explosives factory. Its surface area is approximately 170 hectares, or around 130 football fields.
The arrival of the young Swedish startup raises a lot of questions in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, particularly in terms of repercussions on the environment. La Presse revealed on Thursday that the real estate project of the former owner of the land had been blocked by Quebec.
Northvolt had already met with citizens of the two municipalities last October. Citizens in the surrounding area will obviously have to wait a few more weeks before speaking with officials.
“The government of Quebec will make all information available on Quebec.ca and we invite citizens to use the address infonorthvolt@economie.gouv.qc.ca to ask questions and send us their comments,” says M . D’Auteuil.
Quebec and Ottawa must finance the construction of the complex to the tune of 3 billion in addition to offering a production subsidy of up to 4.6 billion.
