The mayor of Saguenay has led an outcry against Greenpeace and the “intellectuals of the world” in order to protect jobs in his region.
The mayor, Jean Tremblay, posted a short speech on YouTube Tuesday for a call to solidarity from unions and workers, “because if we go on this way, they won’t have any more jobs. We can’t develop projects anymore.”
Tremblay is blaming Greenpeace for thwarting projects from mining companies, such as Arianne Phosphate and BlackRock, and from liquefied natural gas projects in Saguenay.
“They’re going to block us everywhere, I’m telling you,” said Tremblay. “We won’t have any more jobs in the region. These people are leading us by the nose.”
Nicolas Mainville, spokesperson for Greenpeace Quebec, says the Saguenay mayor is misguided.
“He’s not doing any favours to workers by blaming Greenpeace,” said Mainville. “It’s not going to fix the problem. And blaming intellectuals is simply ludicrous.”
Mainville believes that jobs are at risk in the region because the Resolute Forest Products company has not met certification standards since January 2014. “Without that,” said Mainville, “they will continue to lose contracts.”
Mainville says Greenpeace is not blocking jobs in the region. On the contrary, he says that the environmental organization has reached out to the forestry company to help them attain the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification .
Former premier Lucien Bouchard is acting as a mediator between Resolute Forest and Cree aboriginals who says the forestry company is logging on their land. This situation is just one of the 13 issues the forestry company has to deal with in order to get their FSC certification.
As for the mining companies and liquefied natural gas projects mentioned by the mayor, Mainville claims that Greenpeace was never involved in those files.
“In any case, whatever the project, the companies will have to consider the environment,” said Mainville.
The video is getting a lot of attention online with hundreds of comments. Some are brushing the mayor’s remarks aside, saying “He’s a mayor of a past era,” and “Sounds like a speech from the 60s.” Many are condemning Tremblay for attacking intellectuals, and jeering the mayor for the high levels of CO2 emissions in Saguenay.
However, others are defending Tremblay: “I find it strange that people are throwing rocks at him because the guy in the end just wants to provide jobs for his region.”
The mayor said he just wants Greenpeace to “leave us in peace” and let democratically elected governments establish rules.
“We know about the environment and we have a great respect for nature, but we also want to develop and to have employment.”
