Never surrender!
That’s the word from Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet when it comes to re-opening the Energy East pipeline from Alberta to the Maritimes.
Not even to diversify Canada’s energy trade with the US in light of president Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and allow the country to become essentially self-sufficient in oil.
Speaking to reporters Thursday — en Francais — Blanchett dismissed any thought of reviving an oil pipeline from Alberta or even the possibility of an LNG terminal near Saguenay, which he termed a “zombie” project.
“We are fiercely opposed to any type of transport on Quebec territory of hydrocarbons from Western Canada to any market whatsoever. It does not serve Quebec. It does not serve the environment. It does not serve the planet,” he said.
Blanchett also took a swipe at Liberal leadership Mark Carney, who he accused of fabricating a narrative of urgency to essentially bypass Quebec sovereignty.
“See, it's a mirage that we are always being told,” he continued.
“The ‘pro-hydrocarbon speech’ that even Mr. Carney is starting to hold, as if there were a future in western Canadian hydrocarbons… the sacrifice of interests in green energies that make Quebec rich and that are a contribution to environmental issues, which are suddenly being pushed aside from the public debate to say, ‘we are in crisis’.”
“What a great opportunity to bypass Quebec considerations and ecological considerations, to unroll a pipe to the Atlantic?”
Blanchett would apparently prefer to import crude oil from countries like Saudi Arabia, Colombia and even the UK. In 2020 Canada imported $8.75 billion worth of oil from the US, mainly through Quebec, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.
Those figures don’t include refined products such as gasoline. In 2023, Quebec imported 429 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel along with 150,000 barrels per day of offshore crude oil to refineries via the St. Lawrence River.
The only other province to import more was New Brunswick, which is home to the massive Irving refinery — which would be the terminus point for Energy East.
Meanwhile, Quebec Premier Francois Legault registered his position that pipelines need social licence to cross his province and that he retains a defacto veto. "If Danielle Smith or whoever table projects, we'll look at them," he told Rebel News on Thursday. "But we need to have social acceptability."