4 April 2024

13:30 – 14:15

Amphi 1

Louis Simard

A full professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Political Studies (Public Administration Program), he holds a doctorate in sociology from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, specializing in the sociology of organized action (Centre de sociologie des organisations, CNRS-SciencesPO). He holds a master’s degree in political science from the Université du Québec à Montréal. His research focuses on public participation in the environment and energy sectors, with particular emphasis on social acceptability, major projects, public participation and compensation instruments, and organizational learning. He has published several research papers on the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (with Mario Gauthier, UQO) and the Régie de l’énergie. He is notably the author of “L’acceptabilité sociale : trajectoire d’une nouvelle norme d’action publique” Politique et Sociétés (2021), “Socially Not Acceptable: Lessons from a Wind Farm Project in St-Valentin, Quebec” Case Studies in the Environment (2018) and co-author with L. Bherer and M. Gauthier of the article “Developing the Public Participation Field: The Role of Independent Bodies for Public Participation”, Administration and Society, (2020) and the book The Professionalization of the Public Participation (2017, Routledge). He has acted as an expert in the case of Ressources Strateco inc, c. Procureur général du Québec on the issue of social acceptability and as a consultant to public, private and non-profit organizations. He is a member of the Centre d’études en gouvernance, the Institute for Research on Science, Society and Public Policy of the University of Ottawa and the Climate Institute of Canada.

Energy transition without social acceptability?

The urgency of climate change, the imperative of energy transition and the growing number of recent criticisms of participatory democracy raise the question of the relevance of public participation and the social acceptability of major projects. In recent years, a number of public action instruments and new requirements have been introduced to take account of evolving societal concerns, values and principles in the decision-making process for major projects. Cost/benefit analyses, environmental assessments, information and communication tools, and consultation and participation mechanisms have all become increasingly complex, raising the bar for obtaining government authorizations. In this respect, social acceptability has now become the norm. While some see it essentially as a corporate strategy, while others still criticize the difficulty of measuring it or the ambiguity of its definition, social acceptability has been the subject of organizational best practice guides, government definition, legislative mention, ministerial directives and recognition by the courts. Yet public participation, an essential component of social acceptability, is the subject of unprecedented criticism (Loisel and Rio, 2024), at a time when the energy transition demands urgent decisions and should dispense with citizen procrastination that would delay the move to action. By trying to move too fast and sweeping decades of achievements under the carpet, we run the risk of further delaying the process by multiplying blockages and opposition. What if social acceptability were to be achieved through co-construction, taking our time to move faster? The case of the Northvolt project in Quebec will serve to illustrate the point.