Bruno Marchand denies lacking leadership in the file of the closure of Medicago, even if no one in Quebec or Ottawa saw fit to inform him of the difficulties of the company, last December.
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“We are involved, we are present, we are working with the two ministers concerned and the other ministers”, he assured in a press briefing on Tuesday, responding to criticism from the opposition.
However, he recognizes that it is the higher governments who “have the leadership” in the search for buyers.
The announcement of the closure of the biopharmaceutical – last Thursday – took many people by surprise, including some 350 employees in Quebec. Including the mayor of Quebec himself, he admitted.
However, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, also responsible for Regional Economic Development, had revealed last Friday that he had been aware since “the end of December” of the desire of Mitsubishi Chemical (the sole Japanese shareholder) to “exit of the operation”.
However, the office of the mayor of Quebec was not involved until the day of the fateful announcement.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand admitted Tuesday that he was not made aware of Medicago’s difficulties in December by the Quebec government. However, he assures us that he is now working hand in hand with Quebec and Ottawa.
Mr. Marchand is not offended, believing that “it was not necessary at that time” since no closing date had yet been advanced.
A loss of influence?
For the leader of the opposition at City Hall, Claude Villeneuve, this illustrates the “loss of influence” of the new mayor of Quebec with the Council of Ministers of the CAQ government.
“I have a hard time imagining a scenario where we would have learned of the imminent closure of Medicago and then we would not have thought to speak to Régis Labeaume about it. He wouldn’t have accepted it. I would find it very sad to see that the government of Quebec treats the mayor of Quebec like a featherweight. »
Mr. Villeneuve says he does not feel the mayor is “very mobilized” for the survival of the company. “I want him to be a promoter, to pick up the phone himself. »
The leader of Équipe Priorité Québec, Patrick Paquet, shares his opinion and judges that the mayor was “left on the bench” and that he “escaped it”.
“We give each other a month”
Mayor Marchand first poured into irony to defend himself. “I understand that in Mr. Villeneuve’s eyes, it’s a shame that I didn’t settle the war in Ukraine, it’s also a shame that I didn’t settle the question of Alain Côté’s goal and that the mayor did nothing about the Chinese spy balloon…”
More seriously, he then indicated that he had spoken with Minister Fitzgibbon the day before. He also had discussions with federal ministers François-Philippe Champagne and Jean-Yves Duclos in recent days.
“Everything is fine, in the sense that we are doing the work that needs to be done. The news of (the closure) of Medicago is not good news for anyone, for the workers and their families. But we will find buyers and we give ourselves a month to do so. We are all working together, ”he insisted.