Bloc leader, Yves Blanchet, may have more to bring to the federal table, and more to benefit from it, than many Canadians realize.
While a lot of his recent comments seem to be centered around bashing the Alberta oil and gas sector, and many Albertans along with it, buried deep within those comments are clues to his plan. A plan the rest of Canada ould do well to be wary of. Quebec brings to the federal table what appears to be a tremendous plan to tackle climate change and the entire country’s transition to green renewable energy. It’s a plan Trudeau and his Liberal caucus can really use right now. But that plan does not come without costs and the sacrificial lamb will be, not only Alberta, but all the provinces west of the Quebec border, including Ontario.
On advice for those seeking more independence in the west: “If they were attempting to create a green state in western canada, I might be tempted to help them. If they are trying to create an oil state…they cannot expect any help from us.”
Power & Politics Twitter @PnPCBC
Les réactions hostiles dans l’Ouest commandent des intervenants (bien sûr légitimes) plus de respect. Nous le faisons. Le Québec peut être plus prospère en étant plus vert.
The hostile reactions in the West command stakeholders (of course legitimate) more respect. We are doing it. Quebec can be more prosperous by being greener.
Yves Blanchet on Twitter
Is Yves Blanchet the patron saint of a green economy?
It may appear that way to some, but in reality, Blanchet is laying the groundwork to create a green economy in Quebec, but he has a problem. It won’t be so easy without the ability to turn the rest of Canada into “green states”.
It’s to be expected for Blanchet to defy an eastern pipeline, but one has to wonder, what is his obsession with blocking the Trans Mountain pipeline? Global News reported on October 24th, just one day before Canadians voted, that he claimed he would work with the Liberals despite their support for TMX, even stating “the $4.5 billion pipeline is crucial to financing Canada’s transition to a clean energy economy ” But on November 13th, iPolitics reports that he’s walked back on that and that he’s saying “the Bloc will follow its “duty” to fight the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion“
During the leaders debate, many heard for the first time about his La Perequation Verte, or Green Equalization plan. A plan that Don Braid calls; “The Bloc Quebecois plan that would ruin Alberta” Such a plan could further drain Alberta and prove to be an equalization bonus to Quebec and other provinces already receiving equalization payments.
But…follow the money
Lithium – Quebec is on the verge of a major advancement of their lithium industry. With the lithium-ion battery markets rapidly expanding, Quebec lithium mines are poised to become a prominent player. And plans to go beyond mining and into refining will mean a sudden leap in provincial revenues from a source that, regardless of it’s potential environmental risk, will get a green nod in Blanchet’s proposed Green Equalization Plan.
“Lithium is the proverbial new kid on the block and the province is poised to become a major producer in the next few years.
Canadian Mining Journal – January 2019 – Quebec Lithium Takes Root
Investment writer, Livio Filice follows the lithium industry closely and sees Quebec lithium as having a promising future. In his article “A Rising Tide Of Chinese Investment Into The Canadian Lithium Sector” he writes; “North American Lithium is owned by Jien Nickel Industry, a Chinese investment company focused on reorganization of quality assets in the mining, mining processing, smelting, refining, and chemical markets. The company’s flagship asset is a Quebec-based, open-pit, hard-rock lithium mine and processing plant that began the commissioning process in 2017. The company’s strategy is to restart the hydro-metallurgical plant at the lithium mine to become an integrated producer of lithium chemicals, including lithium carbonate. It was reported in 2017 that the company required an investment between $150 and $200 million over a 12-18 month period.”
“In the summer of 2017, the company begun to mine hard rock that was processed at their Quebec facility with the spodumene concentrate exported to Chinese processors. From there, the lithium chemicals are sold to battery-material companies. The company is now positioning to draw the necessary capital to build out a lithium carbonate processing facility in Quebec. “
With the extensive investment from China into Quebec’s lithium operations, and China being the lions share of the market for that lithium, Quebec is well connected for the expansion of their lithium mining sector.
Lithium is a market that Quebec doesn’t need the rest of Canada to be on board with, but Quebec has another burgeoning industry that is a little more reliant on the rest of Canada. Wind power.
Quebec’s wind industry
Blanchet’s plan includes the shut down of Alberta oil & gas industry. While there would be a “wind down” period where Alberta continues to be a heavy emitter, eventually it will throw the Green Equalization out of balance. Quebec needs BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, to continue to be contributors rather than become recipients of equalization (Ontario just reached “have” status in the 2019-2020 calculations).
The emissions scale will tilt and what were once lower in the list of high emitters will become the new evils. Mining will be one of those resources that BC, AB, SK and ON have a lot of and provide the high wages Blanchet needs to see to make his Green Equalization work. Keep in mind his new industries will be a massive part of Quebec’s GDP and will account for many jobs but will be given credit or even exemption from his proposed green equalization calculations.
Other industries, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan’s agricultural sectors, are not conducive to a rapid transition to renewable energy. Their transition would take decades. The technology is not even on the market yet for most of the heavy farm equipment and even the mining sectors have a long way to go. Should Alberta and Saskatchewan’s oil and gas industries be wound down, the west will need to be fulfilling that demand with foreign imports. The agricultural, mining and forestry industries will all be climbing the ladder to become our new top emitters.
Quebec’s abundant wind resources, and its strong complementary relationship with hydro, are not just a competitive advantage for the province; they are also the basis for an industry that contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the province’s GDP every year. Quebec’s wind energy initiatives have spurred the creation of 5,000 full-time jobs in the province, many at manufacturing facilities in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region and the RCM of La Matanie and close to 1,000 in Montreal. Many Quebec, Canadian and international companies have established offices in the city, from which they manage their activities in the province and in markets beyond its borders. Also, because Quebec has 30 per cent of Canada’s installed wind energy capacity and the industry is growing rapidly, new opportunities have been created for a number of Quebec-based companies to develop wind turbine operations and maintenance expertise.
CANWEA -Quebec
Quebec’s goal is, not only to use hydro and wind power generation to fulfill Quebec’s energy demands, but to become a top exporter of renewable energy for the northeast region of North America. Quebec plans to incorporate the maritime provinces and Ontario into their fold of regions dependent, at least in part, on their energy supply.
Going beyond their own wind farms and other energy projects under the mandate of Hydro-Quebec, Quebec plans to become the top supplier of windmill technology, operations and maintenance for the rest of Canada and globally.
CanWEA commissioned Power Advisory, a Boston-based firm, to evaluate the potential for energy integration wind turbine to Canada’s electricity exports to the Northeast. The firm is responsible for evaluating access to environmental credit markets, transmission needs, the economic contribution of wind energy and methods of integrating this energy into exports. The detailed results of this study will be published in the fall.
https://canwea.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/canwea-memoire-quebec-loi-106.pdf (translated)
Beyond all the constraints, obstacles and challenges related to integrating wind energy into exports of Quebec electricity, the desire and sharing of the ambition of all the players concerned in Quebec will be necessary to realize the vision of the Government of Quebec. Government actors will need to provide leadership to ensure that this vision materializes with the contribution of Hydro-Québec and that it benefits Quebec’s economy and the air quality of the continent. Québec’s wind industry is ready to take up this challenge, with dozens of projects pending completion, communities determined to host wind farms and the most developed manufacturing chain in Eastern Europe.
Quebec’s green economy plans appear to be something that all Canadians should be bursting at the seams with pride about.
It is an ambitious undertaking and from the outside looks like a model that excels beyond anything the global community has seen yet. So why aren’t Canadians cheering Blanchet and the province of Quebec on?
Their dubious track record is not lost on the rest of Canada.
Like when Quebec tried to create their own little Fort Mac on Anicosti Island. Anicosti Island was not shut down by the Quebec government as part of their new focus on environmental accountability, it was through an onslaught of Quebecers and environmental groups hell bent to stop the destruction of the region’s fragile ecosystem and have it designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Or how they have acted as if they themselves don’t have their own oil and gas sector which is estimated to contribute approximately $45 billion to Quebec’s economy from 2017 to 2027 (Source: Canadian Energy Research Institute). Quebec even introduced controversial new legislation that many felt failed to protect their water and even encroached on their health by allowing exploration work to be permitted as close as 150 metres from a residence.
“Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté says he’s exasperated by the lengthy regulations which he say will do nothing to comfort citizens worried about the safety of oil drilling near their homes.”
“If the government wanted to ensure that there would not be social acceptability, it’s gone about it the right way,” Côté said.
Quebec mayors warn new rules for oil and gas exploration could imperil drinking water – CBC
Hydro-Quebec itself is marred in controversy as it escapes scrutiny by touting it’s hydro electric renewable energy “greeness”. Seeing Quebec operate it’s electricity generation without the heavy reliance on coal as seen in other parts of Canada and the world should be setting them up on a pedestal to be praised by all. But their hydro comes at great costs.
The James Bay project had an environmental impact throughout the 177,000 sq km of the watershed, which encompasses about 11% of the province of Quebec. Many battles have raged between Hydro-Quebec, the provincial government and the Cree in northern Quebec. The project flooded 11,000 sq km of boreal forest, stirred up naturally occurring mercury which posed a health risk for those who relied on fish for their diets and displaced Cree communities and trappers.
We don’t hear much of the issues in the main stream media because the Cree of northern Quebec took a very different approach. They took control and walked away from the Indian Act and Treaty restrictions. This wasn’t something voluntarily handed to them as compensation from the Quebec government as much as it was a decades long determination by the Cree to be proactive, starting in the 70’s with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Quebec’s northern Cree are not thriving because of the Quebec government, they are succeeding and prospering in spite of it.
Today, that relationship is working far better than it did back in the days when Quebec Hydro and the mining companies simply pushed the Cree off their land. In Oujé-Bougoumou, a whole community was uprooted, no less than seven times, by miners. People camped in teepees and tar-paper shacks by the side of the road.
“But we decided to act. We decided to do something and change living conditions around us … I think it’s a lot better than being passive. You know, here we’re being proactive and, you know, trying to take a piece of the action.
“We can’t just sit around and wait for the governments to do things for us, or for ore companies,” says Bosum. “We have to learn to decide what we want and work with the forces around us.”
How Quebec Cree avoided the fate of Attawapiskat-CBC
Mercury accumulations still exist, to the point that Hydro-Quebec continues to monitor it and has a plan in place that deals with the health risks, the cornerstone of which appears to be “don’t eat too much fish”.
The recent monitoring of fish mercury levels in hydroelectric developments and of the peripheral population’s exposure to mercury have shown that, at the levels of mercury observed in Québec’s reservoirs, the health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the mercury-related risks. Hydro-Québec is now focusing its efforts on developing, in close collaboration with regional public health authorities, consumption guides which will allow recreational anglers and subsistence fishermen to continue to benefit from the great nutritional value of fish while avoiding mercury-related risks.
Hydro-Québec and the mercury issue
Quebec appeared to be a model of environmentalism, but has revealed their standards are still vulnerable to corruption
Quebec’s environmental hypocrisy has been seen in the backlash to the rushed approval of the $1-billion Port-Daniel–Gascons cement plant, who’s C02 emissions are expected to be greater than the entire province of Prince Edward Island.
“The provincial government issued a $250-million loan and invested $100 million, then sidestepped its own environmental regulations in order to hang on to a key riding in a far-flung region—and curry favour with Laurent Beaudoin, the scion of the Bombardier clan, one of Quebec’s most politically influential families. (La Caisse de dépôt, the province’s public pension fund manager, also invested $100 million.)”
In Quebec, a cement factory encased in hypocrisy-Why did the Quebec government hand millions to an emission-belching, billionaire-owned cement factory? Martin Patriquin, Macleans Jul 28, 2016
Quebec is no stranger to corruption. Back in 2010, Martin Patriquin writing for Macleans delved into Quebec’s history of corruption and the ongoing problem that remains.”The province’s dubious history stretches further back to the 1970s, and to the widespread corruption in the construction industry as Quebec rushed through one megaproject after another. Much of the industry at the time, according to a provincial commission, was “composed of tricksters, crooks and scum” whose ties to the Montreal mafia, and predilection for violence, was renowned.“
Even Quebec’s own Anti-Corruption Unit, UPAC, is plagued with accusations of collusion and corruption. In an interview with Global News’ Rachael Fletcher, “(Anne Trudel) says the level of corruption in Quebec is so deeply ingrained, she believes it even exists in the province’s anti-corruption squad.”
Canadians’ trust in Quebec, it’s governments (and the people behind the scene that pull the strings) is rightfully marred by decades of valid reasons to distrust them.
Enter Yves Blanchet, the leader of the Bloc, with a landslide resurgence in influence over the federal government, and Canada in turn, and the rest of Canada would be best served not to let their guard down. Despite being elected to serve in parliament as a federal representative of, not only their Quebec ridings, but for the benefit of all Canadians as a whole, Blanchet and his MP’s have taken on a persona of a provincial government with their own exclusive seats commanding a firm hand in the control of the entire country. So much so, that it’s nearly impossible to differentiate between the federal Bloc and Quebec’s provincial hierarchy.
While Canadian MP’s from all provinces represent their ridings, they owe a duty to represent all Canadians as well. Blanchet and his Bloc MP’s aren’t even trying to hide the fact that their allegiance to the rest of Canada is tempered by priorities that will benefit Quebec, even if at the expense of all the other provinces.
Feature Image Credit: Image by Nicolas Dupont from Pixabay
