Un coordonnateur du ministère de l’Environnement démissionne à cause du dossier Northvolt

Ghislain Côté, coordinator at the Ministry of the Environment who had written to Minister Benoit Charette to denounce the management of the Northvolt file, has just left his job, considering that the functioning of the organization no longer corresponds to his values.

I had a lot of hope in the Quebec public service. I saw myself being someone who would work to help the organization that is the Ministry of the Environment to grow, improve, and ensure that citizens are in good hands. Unfortunately, recently, I felt that I, as a person, maybe wanted more than the organization,” explained Mr. Côté in a phone interview with La Presse on Wednesday.

The biologist worked as coordinator of the analysis and expertise team at the Bas-Saint-Laurent Regional Directorate until last Friday. He had been at the Ministry of the Environment, Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) for over six years.

“I’m hurting for my ministry,” he wrote in his “Letter to my Minister,” sent to Mr. Charette at the end of February. This letter was cited by Radio-Canada¹ but Mr. Côté did not give an interview.

Minister Benoit Charette had then reacted publicly, stating that “no political pressure” had been exerted on the employees responsible for the Northvolt file². The Ministry’s management also spoke to the staff.

Mr. Côté had written a second letter, addressed to his superiors internally. He denounced the “lack of rigor” in certain government statements and asked questions “to [provide] tools and be able to respond to stakeholders in [his] territory”.

“How do you explain public statements that come before a comprehensive and independent analysis process is completed?” he asked.

“Since the end of February, […] no response has been provided to us,” said Mr. Côté on Wednesday. “So I felt that there was a movement, and decisions were being made by the organization that did not align with my values or the values supported by the organization.”

“Human resources files are confidential matters. Therefore, the Ministry cannot make any comment on this,” said a spokesperson for MELCCFP by email.

“We wish him all the best for the future and we thank him for his years of service at the Ministry of the Environment,” responded Minister Charette’s office via email.

Call for “communication and transparency”

The goal is not to “take the microphone,” assured Mr. Côté.

“I still hope that this whole saga will be positive and constructive in the end, even if in the short term, I don’t see that these are the directions that the Ministry seems to have taken.”

He wishes “that politics remain in the hands of politicians,” and that government agencies that provide them with reports and recommendations “can operate independently.”

He also calls “for communication and transparency,” both “within organizations” and with “the public, society, to whom we are accountable as professionals working for the government.”

He also found it “absurd” that Prime Minister François Legault presented “an orange and a banana” to talk about the Northvolt project, when “people had questions that were intelligent and relevant.”

The Northvolt mega-battery plant project, which involves the destruction of wetlands in Montérégie, is not subject to an evaluation by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). Its environmental authorization process has raised many questions and criticisms since last autumn.

The project would have derailed if it had to undergo a BAPE evaluation, Minister Benoit Charette argued in an interview with La Presse a month ago³.

This is something that should have been said “from the beginning,” Mr. Côté now believes.

“It would have had a political cost, but it would have had the merit of being clear.”

The biologist will start working at the WSP firm next Monday, where he has already worked for nearly six years, from 2011 to 2016.

He announced his resignation in writing in mid-March, then submitted a declaration of interest to the Ministry to inform them of his new job at WSP.

Since the Ministry “deals with WSP in the context of calls for tenders and the awarding of contracts,” the former coordinator will have to respect the “confidential and secret nature” of the information to which he had access, as reminded by MELCCFP in an ethical notice.

This ethical notice also mentions the “media frenzy regarding Northvolt” that the recipient “was subjected to.” The former civil servant should “assert his duty of loyalty” towards “the image of the ministry,” the document recommends.

“I consider that the Ministry lacks loyalty towards its employees and towards its mission,” commented Mr. Côté. “My dream of seeing a ministry working towards environmental protection in full transparency will only improve the services it provides to the population.”

With the collaboration of Charles Lecavalier and Henri Ouellette-Vézina, La Presse

1. Read the article by Radio-Canada

2. Read the article “No political interference, says Benoit Charette”

3. Read the article “We wouldn’t have had a project with a BAPE,” says Benoit Charette”