3 April 2024

15:25 – 16:10

Amphi 2

Marie-Claude Prémont

Marie-Claude Prémont is a full professor of public law at the École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP). She teaches Municipal Law and Health and Social Services Law. A member of the Quebec Order of Engineers and the Quebec Bar, and holder of a doctorate in law from Université Laval, she is pursuing research in various fields of public law: municipal law, health law, as well as territorial development through wind and hydroelectric power and the exploitation of natural resources. She is currently completing a research project on the major historical models of hydroelectric development in Quebec.

What strategy for hydroelectric power generation in the Saint-Maurice basin (1900 – 1965)?

Quebec’s first major industrial production of hydroelectric power developed along the Saint-Maurice River in the early 20th century, based on an alliance between the hydroelectric power company, Shawinigan Water & Power (SWP), and the energy-intensive aluminum, pulp and paper, chemical and spinning industries. Energy-intensive industry, benefiting from low-cost electricity, has settled all along the Saint-Maurice River, with the town of Shawinigan as its first nerve center. Thanks to its considerable negotiating power with municipal and provincial authorities, the alliance of large-scale industry succeeded in shaping in its favor, over nearly three-quarters of a century, the rules governing industrial location and property taxation. From 1902 to 1960, the public authorities were generally benevolent towards the industry responsible for the intense economic activity generated by the hydroelectricity turbining the Saint-Maurice at high speed. In some cases, however, the industry’s alliance turned into a confrontation with the host municipalities. Why and in what form? Finally, was the Saint-Maurice region able to claim victory following the SWP’s nationalization in 1962?