CAQ government invokes closure to fast track energy bill
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QUEBEC — Arguing it is acting in the interests of economic growth, the Coaliton Avenir Québec government has cut short the debate on legislation modernizing the energy sector, Bill 69.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Friday, CAQ house leader Simon Jolin-Barrette informed the legislature the government would be invoking closure, forcing the bill into law.
The decision means the summer recess of the National Assembly will be delayed a few more hours as MNAs debate into the night with a vote sometime early Saturday morning.
It is the seventh time since taking power in 2018 the CAQ uses closure to fast track legislation and bypass the normal rules of procedure.
The move immediately sparked an angry reaction from the opposition parties that oppose the bill and want it scrapped.
But the government said the debate on the bill has lasted long enough.
Tabled way back in June 2024 by former CAQ super minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, the legislation has been stalled for months. After Fitzgibbon's resignation in September 2024, the bill was eventually picked up by the new economy and energy minister, Christine Fréchette.
'After more than 150 hours of consultations and detailed study, the repeated obstruction by the opposition parties, only two-thirds of the clauses of the bill have been adopted,' Fréchette said Friday.
'If work continues at this pace, on the same date next year, the bill will still not have been adopted.'
The bill makes sweeping changes to way Quebec's energy sector operates and power rates are set, and also introduces for the first time the concept of energy sobriety to curb consumption.
The Legault government wants to double electricity production by 2025 and Bill 69 is part of the equation. It will permit Hydro-Québec to dispense with tendering rules in the awarding of certain contracts as well as enter into agreements with indigenous communities.
The bill is supposed to allow the provincial energy utility to launch new wind-power projects as early as this summer. Hydro-Québec plans to spend $200 billion by 2035 on its expansion.
Fréchette said the additional wind power alone will add 2,000 megawatts of power to the grid for power-hunger Quebec companies as well as creating 1,000 jobs in regions of Quebec that have been hard hit in the fallout over U.S. trade tariffs.
Waiting for the opposition was no longer an option. Adopting Bill 69 now will enable Hydro-Québec to save $6 billion by implementing the new wind-power system earlier, she said.
The bill will also permit private companies to sell their electricity to industries directly. For consumers, Bill 69 will ensure domestic electricity rate increases are capped at 3 per cent (a CAQ election promise) and abolish the base price for gas that might be pushing prices up at the pump.
But the last minute addition of 52 amendments to the original legislation sparked an uproar with the three opposition parties, which accused the government of trying to steamroll them.
Parti Québécois energy critic Pascal Paradis estimated the new amendments being rushed in will eventually cost consumers $1 billion in extra charges.
He said the bill fundamentally weakens the power regulator agency, the Régie de énergie.
'Quebecers will have to shell out,' Paradis said. 'Bill 69 is basically a tool box to increase rates.'
The business lobby also objected to the bill, saying Quebec companies and institutions will bear the costs of all the projects.
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