{"id":716775,"date":"2026-06-05T12:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716775\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:33:08","slug":"steven-guilbeaults-home-province-gives-fossil-fuel-development-another-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716775\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Guilbeault\u2019s home province gives fossil fuel development another look"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Outgoing Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault walks to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill on May 27.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

At the 2021 United Nations climate summit in Scotland, Quebec\u2019s then-premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault announced that his province would join Denmark as a founding member of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance<\/a>, a group dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels globally.<\/p>\n

A few months later, Mr. Legault\u2019s Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government adopted a law banning oil and gas development<\/a> in the province, ending a decade-long debate about whether to exploit vast natural gas reserves located in the St. Lawrence River Valley. <\/p>\n

With an election on the horizon, the CAQ aimed to bolster its environmental credentials by revoking the drilling licences of gas companies in what is known as the Utica Shale amid a controversy over the risks of hydraulic fracturing. Quebec offered the companies $100-million in total compensation. Instead, one of them sued<\/a> the government for $18-billion.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, the otherwise pro-development Mr. Legault\u2019s move to ban fossil fuel exploration involved playing against type. But his province\u2019s most popular ecologist, Steven Guilbeault, had just been named federal environment minister in Justin Trudeau\u2019s government with an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions that was popular in Quebec. Mr. Legault\u2019s fossil fuel ban fell in line with the zeitgeist.<\/p>\n

Flash forward to 2026. Mr. Guilbeault\u2019s plan has been relegated to the dustbin by Mr. Trudeau\u2019s successor, Mark Carney. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have left Europe facing critical energy shortages. Almost everywhere, climate goals have taken a back seat to economic security.<\/p>\n

This is the context in which Mr. Legault\u2019s successor as CAQ Leader and Quebec Premier, Christine Fr\u00e9chette, recently opened the door<\/a> \u2013 if only just a crack \u2013 to the possibility of repealing the 2022 ban on hydrocarbon development, in part to lessen the province\u2019s current dependence on natural gas imported from the United States.<\/p>\n

Danielle Smith highlights common causes in visit with Quebec counterpart<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s willingness to reopen the debate on fossil fuel development got a hearty endorsement this week from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who offered her province\u2019s assistance in helping Quebec become a hydrocarbon producer. Appearing before a business audience in Quebec City, Ms. Smith also expressed support for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Baie-Comeau, Que., that would export LNG to Europe.<\/p>\n

Ms. Fr\u00e9chette is taking a risk by reopening a debate that most Quebeckers had considered closed. The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois and far-left Qu\u00e9bec solidaire remain stridently opposed to oil and gas development. Only the Quebec Conservative Party supports the idea. <\/p>\n

With an October election on the horizon, the debate over the PQ\u2019s promise to hold a third referendum on sovereignty will undoubtedly dominate the campaign. But fossil fuel development could emerge as a sleeper issue, especially in the hotly contested swing ridings in the St. Lawrence Valley between Montreal and Quebec City.<\/p>\n

While Quebec\u2019s oil reserves are likely too small to warrant investment from major producers, its natural gas reserves are considerable. A recent Montreal Economic Institute study<\/a> estimated that the province has enough recoverable gas reserves to meet domestic demand for between 37 and 207 years based on 2024 consumption levels. The study projected $93-billion in economic benefits over 25 years, including $15-billion in government revenues, from the development of the province\u2019s gas resources.<\/p>\n

Of course, any increase in government royalties from resource development would also mean a reduction in federal equalization payments for Quebec. Indeed, critics of the current equalization formula \u2013 Ms. Smith is among the most vocal \u2013 argue that it serves as disincentive for have-not provinces to develop their own natural resources. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The world is moving off fossil fuels as Canada continues to live in the past<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta politicians have long criticized Quebec for charging too little for electricity within the province, reaping far less in water royalties than it could while collecting billions in equalization payments that are partially funded by Albertans\u2019 federal taxes. A recent Fraser Institute study<\/a> estimated that a four-cent-per-kilowatt-hour increase in Quebec electricity rates would lead to a $3.7-billion cut to the $13.9-billion that the province is projected to receive in equalization transfers in the current 2026-27 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Still, the economic gains from natural gas development would likely far outweigh the cuts to equalization. That is the bet Nova Scotia, also a major equalization recipient with projected payments of $3.5-billion, is making by lifting its moratorium on fracking and inviting gas producers to submit drilling applications by Nov. 30. <\/p>\n

The Newfoundland and Labrador government, which is projected to receive only $182-million in equalization this year, has also renewed a push to develop its offshore natural gas reserves, which it estimated to be worth about US$400-billion on the European market.<\/p>\n

This fits with Mr. Carney\u2019s goal of making Canada an energy superpower. The timing could hardly be more favourable for Quebec to reconsider its ban on natural gas development, even if the politics of doing so are difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Outgoing Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault walks to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-716775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}