Auditor decries Quebec battery investments
A report from Quebec’s Auditor General released June 10 found that massive government investments into the battery industry lacked proper planning and analysis, CBC News reported.
Auditor general Christine Roy’s office announced an investigation into the province’s subsidies to the electric battery industry last summer after several companies with significant public investment went bankrupt or had financial difficulties.
Roy’s report looked at several dozen files relating to 11 companies, representing roughly $2.2 billion in public financial assistance, of which $1.9 billion had been disbursed by September last year. Four of the companies have filed for creditor protection after receiving the majority of their government support. Another two have suspended or abandoned their projects, while three more have seen significant cost increases.
The report calculates that total losses from these investments are roughly $375.2 million, though the full cost won’t be known for years, as some projects are still underway. The majority of the losses come from the Northvolt battery factory project and Lion, an electric vehicle maker.
Premier Christine Fréchette blamed her predecessors in the CAQ party, former leader François Legault and economy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon.
Parent volunteer barred from after-school activity for wearing hijab
A parent volunteer in Gatineau was barred from assisting at an after-school activity due to wearing a hijab, Le Droit reported.
The parent, who was granted anonymity for the story, said that the school informed her that she would not be able to hand out food at its upcoming back-to-school event in September if she was wearing her hijab. A volunteer for more than a decade, the parent told Le Droit that she doesn’t blame the administration who were enforcing the law as it was written.
“I want to get involved, to contribute something to my school, but the government is preventing me. I refuse to be treated like someone from a lower category,” she said in a French interview.
Under Quebec’s secularism laws, which were recently expanded to include teaching assistants and parent volunteers, those “providing services” to students are banned from wearing religious symbols, even outside of school hours.
Quebec’s education ministry responded that students must be able to learn “in a neutral environment, free from religious pressure and in accordance with Quebec’s values of gender equality.”
Montreal suspends 16 police officers accused of racist behaviour by colleagues
On June 12, Montreal Police (SPVM) Chief Fady Dagher announced that 16 officers in the Montréal-Nord borough were being investigated for racist and hateful actions against Black and Arab people while on the job, Radio-Canada reported. Dagher said that criminal charges have been recommended for two of the officers, and more allegations could come to light.
Officers are accused of collecting pieces of hair cut during interventions, as well as allegedly ticketing people based solely on their ethnic background. He said that two officers have been suspended, three have been reassigned, and the rest have been “relocated” to not have interactions with citizens.
The investigation was launched two months ago following complaints from fellow officers at the station in question.
“The SPVM acknowledges the courage of the employees who reported the facts and those who conducted the investigation,” Dagher said.
Quebec’s public safety minister Ian Lafrenière announced June 15 that he would appoint an independent observer to follow the investigation by Montreal police.
