FACT CHECK: Blanchet claims to have the best climate plan, but his actions as provincial Minister of the Environment say something else

October 2, 2019

Yves-François Blanchet claims to be greener than green. His record suggests otherwise. When he served as Minister of the Environment under the Pauline Marois government, Mr. Blanchet was quick to authorize hydraulic fracking on Anticosti Island. Worse still, against the advice of the scientific community, Mr. Blanchet’s regulation set the distance between the fracking and the aquifer at only 400 metres, jeopardizing the island’s fresh water reserves.

During his recent appearance on Tout le monde en parle, Mr. Blanchet tried to distance himself from his decision, but his own statements at the time were very clear: “I will tell you in no uncertain terms, the Government of Quebec intends to make progress in developing the oil industry in Quebec.”

Mr. Blanchet authorized the reversal of Enbridge’s 9B pipeline to transport oil from Alberta to Quebec, even before conducting any consultation on the matter and despite very strong opposition from municipalities and citizens. In 2016, it was reported that Enbridge had to intervene 63 times to repair Line 9B, 41 times in Ontario and 22 times in Quebec.

Similarly, Mr. Blanchet authorized the Port-Daniel–Gascon cement plant project without waiting for an assessment by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). Yet it was well known at the time that the cement plant would eventually produce more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year, which represents more than 10% of the emissions of all industries of this type in Quebec.