Canadian leaders, the Premier of Quebec, provincial refineries Suncor and Valero and notorious Canadian crude oil giant Enbridge are championing a dangerous fossil fuel project that transports oil from Alberta to Quebec through the Midwest of the United States. United, in defiance of the very first order to shut down an existing pipeline.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
They use false arguments, myths and inconclusive evidence to justify the continued operation of an oil pipeline that threatens a fifth of the planet’s fresh water, the drinking water supply of 40 million people, Indigenous rights and billions of dollars in trade, all while refusing to recognize that we are in a climate crisis. While the Quebec government is the first in the world to ban all future fossil fuel development, Montreal continues to receive oil from Line 5 via Line 9b.
A report published last month confirms that Enbridge misled Quebecers about a possible increase in the price of gas in Quebec if line 5 was closed. This detailed report, produced by Environmental Defense Canada, confirms what environmental groups have been saying for years: the effect of line 5 on oil prices in Quebec is negligible. In addition, multiple analyzes prove that Quebec would not suffer from a shortage of supply following a rapid closure of line 5, contrary to what Enbridge and the fossil fuel industry would have us believe. .
We have undeniable evidence that a transition to renewable energy in Canada is possible.
Proponents of the continued operation of Line 5 are taking advantage of the war in Ukraine, the rising rate of inflation and the rising cost of living. These are dishonest and deceptive tactics. International energy markets determine the price of oil, not a single pipeline.
Enbridge has leaked more than 28 million liters of oil into the environment since 1999, which equates to an average of 1.9 million liters of oil per year. Environmental Defense Canada also said that if a Line 5 spill occurs below the Strait of Mackinac, the most ecologically sensitive area of the Great Lakes, during the winter months when there is ice cover , a clean-up would be next to impossible, and that would make any oil spill all the more dramatic.
Quebec politicians can make strong arguments in favor of closing Line 5 and ask the federal government to stop defending this pipeline during the next election, when voters will be more attentive to the news. Although Quebec is the first jurisdiction in the world to ban all new exploitation of fossil fuels, we must also gradually reduce our use of existing infrastructures transporting them in order to achieve our climate objectives. Line 5, which is particularly dangerous, is a perfect first target.
Finally, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, who both represent federal ridings in Montreal, must also stop defending line 5 and show solidarity with the communities. Native Americans and American activists, who have spent nearly a decade fighting this pipeline, ensuring that Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s historic stop order to protect the Great Lakes is enforced a once and for all.