(Ottawa) A Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre would give the green light to the project to set up a natural gas liquefaction plant in Saguenay, which had been proposed by GNL Québec.
Posted at 9:08
This project, which was valued at $ 14 billion, was rejected by the government of François Legault in July 2021 on the grounds that the company had failed to meet three important criteria. According to Quebec, the project had not acquired social acceptability, did not promote energy transition and did not contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Quebec’s decision was based on a report by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement, which concluded that the construction of such a plant in La Baie involved more risks than advantages.
In February, Ottawa also refused to grant the necessary federal authorizations for the natural gas export project, which was aimed at the European market.
Last month, the Legault government went further by having the National Assembly adopt a law that officially puts an end to oil and gas exploration in Quebec.
However, the war in Ukraine has changed the situation, according to Pierre Poilievre, considered the leader of the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Result: if he wins the leadership race and leads the Conservative Party to power in the next federal election, he will approve this project.
At a press conference in Gatineau, near the Alexandria Bridge which offers a view of Parliament, on the other side of the Ottawa River, Mr. Poilievre accused the Trudeau government of having rejected promising energy projects.
“Justin Trudeau supports oil – as long as it’s foreign oil. Every time he kills a Canadian energy project, foreign dictators like [Vladimir] Putin rejoice because they can continue to dominate the world market,” he argued.
“We need to get Canadian oil and gas to market, and that starts with inviting projects unfairly blocked by the Liberal government to reapply for approval,” he added.
Concretely, Mr. Poilievre promises to give federal approval to the GNL Québec project, this project which aims to build a 780 km gas pipeline between northern Ontario and the Saguenay, and also to approve the construction of a plant LNG and a marine terminal in Saguenay. The Conservative MP for Carleton acknowledges that Quebec will have its say, but Mr. Poilievre intends to take steps to encourage it to do so “given the geopolitical evolution and the global need for Canadian energy”.
“This is a project that would export 11 million tonnes of LNG from Western Canada to world markets via the Saguenay,” he pleaded.
“The LNG project is just one example of projects blocked by the Liberals. Canada must regain control of its energy. When I am Prime Minister, we will end overseas oil imports, we will remove anti-energy laws and we will use Canadian energy to create new Canadian jobs. We will eliminate excessive bureaucracy at home and stop paying dictators abroad. »