New Brunswick premier tries to sell Quebec on natural gas pipeline
Quebec Premier François Legault says New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt's pitch for a natural gas pipeline to extend from Quebec City to her province must benefit Quebecers if it's to go ahead.
That's as Holt says she's told Legault it will do so.
On the sidelines of premiers meetings in Ontario cottage country, Holt said she met with Legault in attempts to push forward her call for what amounts to a new 300-kilometre pipe through eastern Quebec into New Brunswick.
Holt wants that pipeline to be part of the Eastern Energy Partnership, a collection of electrical grid upgrades and energy infrastructure projects to be sold to the federal government as a priority nation-building project.
Legault was questioned about that possibility in a closing news conference at the premiers' meeting while sitting alongside Holt on Wednesday.
'There's no project right now,' Legault said in French, suggesting the proposal is an 'idea' with no proponent to date.
He added that 'if a project is brought forward, I would like to have more economic spinoffs for Quebec.
'It has to be good for Quebecers,' Legault said.
Holt then responded that it would be beneficial for eastern Quebec industry.
'We're talking to Premier Legault and private companies and I really appreciate his point of view that they need economic spinoffs,' she said. 'It would be for companies between Quebec City and the border (of New Brunswick).
'I think Rivière-du-Loup is an example. They would also like to have natural gas, so we're working on this so that it might be something positive for Quebecers and New Brunswickers, both.'
Additional natural gas infrastructure would help to correct Atlantic Canada's growing dependence on the United States.
The region currently relies on natural gas imported from the U.S., with some sourced indirectly from western Canada, although also piped up through the southern border.
That reliance increased after the shutdown of Nova Scotia's offshore natural gas production in 2018.
Natural gas is now piped from the northeastern U.S. to some markets in Atlantic Canada through a 1,100-km transmission pipe operated by Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. It was initially built to transport natural gas from offshore developments in Nova Scotia to markets in Atlantic Canada and then south of the border, but the pipeline flow was later reversed.
Meanwhile, there's no pipeline infrastructure to get any natural gas to northern New Brunswick or eastern Quebec.
Natural gas pipeline infrastructure exists from the western provinces through Ontario, but terminates in Quebec City.
If that pipeline is extended to New Brunswick, from there, additional pipe could stretch across the northern half of the province to the Port of Belledune, as well as south to Fredericton, connecting parts of New Brunswick to gas infrastructure that is currently only available by truck.
Speaking with New Brunswick reporters after the news conference, Holt said 'there are communities that I think would also appreciate natural gas access, like Rivière-du-Loup and others.'
'So François has been clear about what he needs for it to move forward in Quebec and we continue to work with all the different players involved to see if we can make this happen,' Holt said.
There were previous plans, now nearly two decades old, to build a liquid natural gas terminal and a pipeline network at Gros-Cacouna, near Rivière-du-Loup.
It had the region's support, but was delayed indefinitely due to supply issues.
Meanwhile, complicating talks over a natural gas pipeline are other proposals in front of Quebec.
In his response to reporters on Wednesday when asked about a natural gas pipeline, Legault brought up prospective projects in Sept-Îles or Baie-Comeau, on the other side of the St. Lawrence River.
He also said they were ideas without proponents.
In recent months, Legault has mused about building an oil pipeline to an export terminal in Sept-Îles, on Quebec's North Shore, that would carry western energy and then ship it overseas.
'Could we imagine having a pipeline that goes through northern Quebec which could end, for example, in the Port of Sept-Îles?' Legault said in the interview.
'Projects like that were unthinkable before Trump,' he said.
'Quebecers are saying, 'There's no way Trump is going to control the oil we produce in Alberta.' So, can we export it to Europe through Quebec instead of being stuck with Trump? There's openness. I feel things are shifting,' the premier added.
New Brunswick's pitch would also aid the potential multibillion-dollar repurposing of the Saint John LNG facility into an export terminal.
Holt has previously said her government has been talking to Repsol, the owner of Saint John LNG, and TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corporation) about projects.
Repsol abandoned plans in 2023 to build a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Saint John, citing the cost of shipping gas from western Canada to eastern tidewater.
That concept would have used existing pipelines that traverse through the United States.
The company kicked the tires in a race to supply Germany and other European countries looking to replace Russian gas amid the war in Ukraine. But the project ultimately went nowhere.
The premiers' meetings in Ontario concluded on Wednesday.
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