The on the front page of Wednesday's Le Devoir shows Natural Resources Minister Nathalie Normandeau clasping Lucien Bouchard's right hand in both of hers at a National Assembly committee hearing the day before.
Had it been taken after the former premier and current gas-industry lobbyist testified and not before, that gesture by the industry's must enthusiastic supporter in the government would have looked like one of consolation.
For during the hearing, not only was Bouchard accused by Québec solidaire MNA Amir of selling out Quebec to the industry that now employs him, but the minister herself rejected the request Bouchard made on the industry's behalf.
That request was for companies to be compensated for exploration permits they would lose under the proposed legislation before the committee.
Despite that setback, however, the industry represented by Bouchard appears to have reason to be pleased with the government of which Normandeau is a member.
Three months ago, the Charest government appeared to retreat in the face of overwhelming public opposition to shale-gas development by the industry.
It accepted a recommendation by the environmental public-hearings board, the BAPE, to conduct a "strategic environmental evaluation" and recommend conditions for development, which could take two years.
But it did not impose a moratorium on further shale-gas exploration.
And it allowed "controlled" development to continue, with new drilling authorized for the purposes of scientific research, including the use of the controversial process known as fracking.
Also, it appears that the industry will have considerable influence over the environmental evaluation.
Le Devoir has reported that public consultations on drilling and fracking projects would be controlled by the gas companies themselves.
The newspaper has also said that of the 11 members of the committee conducting the evaluation, five have ties to private industry but none are environmental activists.
Then somebody found a video on the website of one of the shalegas companies active in Quebec, in which its president said the company had nothing to fear from the evaluation (online: bit.ly/mGxdOX). Michael Binnion, chairman of Questerre Energy Corporation, said that "they (the Quebec government) haven't actually restricted us from doing anything we wanted to do anyway" in the next two years.
Binnion said Quebec's recently adopted regulations for the industry are much less demanding than Alberta's. "The (Quebec) regulations are only three pages. If they had been announced in Alberta, they would have been 30 pages."
And he spoke of the evaluation as though its primary purpose is to serve the interests of the industry.
There was a "lack of experience in oil and gas in Quebec," in the government as well as among the public, since there are "a lot of unilingual French people," Binnion said.
So the evaluation is a "win-win opportunity" to "include the government" in the company's projects, and "a training process" for government regulators.
It would also give the industry time to "take a proactive role on the political side to ensure that the public does have a favourable perception of gas two years from now."
In Wednesday's Le Devoir, three members of a "collective" of scientists alluded to "certain recent statements by the industry" in expressing concern that the evaluation will be "a sterile exercise, even a sham."
And on the front page of the same newspaper, a photo showed the government and the industry literally hand in hand.
dmacpherson Zoz montrealgazette.com
Twitter: Zoz MacphersonGaz