No gas for you, Quebec tells builders. This despite the fact Quebec, itself, has piles of gas under its feet it refuses to allow development of.
Will Danielle Smith be in Washington to perhaps witness the signing of another pipeline permit? Stranger things have happened, eight years ago…
Sunshine Oilsands ordered to shut down by Alberta Energy Regulator.
Re: Sunshine oilsands. Why does this remind me of Sequoia Resources? Maybe time to look into who is allowed to buy industry and property in Alberta. Or we could just keep being suckers.
Quebec continues its drive to be the most statist of all the provinces, even if it means immolating the economy. Whatever passes for a conservative political movement there continues to be hopelessly ineffective. I assume the ban on natural gas means that gas grills in restaurants will be gone as well?
Oh dear … what decent chef would use an electric stove?
Oh, and no! BBQs ?
Last I checked, it was Alberta that gets power usage warnings, not Quebec.
Maybe check the thorn in your eye before commenting on the mote in another’s.
Montreal’s power grid is deteriorating, raising new concerns about reliability
A report by Radio-Canada has revealed details from a Hydro-Quebec internal document from last year, indicating that much of Montreal’s electrical infrastructure is outdated and struggling to cope with increasing demands.
There was a surge in power outages across Quebec in 2023, with Montreal bearing a significant brunt of the disruptions, affecting tens of thousands of residents.
A report by Radio-Canada has revealed details from a Hydro-Quebec internal document from last year, indicating that much of Montreal’s electrical infrastructure is outdated and struggling to cope with increasing demands.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-s-power-grid-is-deteriorating-raising-new-concerns-about-reliability-1.6905622
Yes. 100% the power usage warnings are due to the unreliability of solar and wind.
Doubling Alberta’s natural gas powered generation capacity would make the supply rock solid.
Yep. AB really does need to tell the feds to eff off.
Smith should start promoting a separatist referendum.
Meanwhile, this redneck can’t even remember the last time the power went out in my part of the the future Republic of Alberta.
I have no problem with Quebec weaning off natural gas. They have an excellent and reliable system of hydro electric power already in place. Just don’t lecture the other Provinces.
Quebec can freeze in the dark if that’s what it takes to open the Eyes Wide Shut. Do they not remember the Big Freeze ice storm?
As long as Quebec can continue to leach off the ROC (Alberta) through the lion’s share of equalization payments, there is no incentive for them to develop their resources or allow pipelines to cross the province.
Whatever Quebec does with Alberta’s (O&G derived) money is not OK. Until it actually and thankfully leaves confederation, it is not an independently functioning province. Albertans, by nature of their “equalization transfer” should dictate Quebec energy policies until they leave or until Alberta leaves instead. Perhaps that would incentivize their long threatened faux departure. The next federal election ballot should include a referendum on kicking Quebec out of confederation. The Bloc doesn’t have any reason to complain.
Your beef is with the feds. Of course, AB is much to pussified to actually take on the feds, so you make asinine suggestions like letting AB mange QCs energy policy.
One shouldn’t have to identify sarcasm but apparently not.
Hydroelectricity production is not part of the equalization formula while oil and gas production is. Alberta and Quebec are hardly equal parties in Confederation.
Isn’t all of ABs resources nationalized by the province?
At any rate, the fact remains, QC doesn’t have grid alerts and AB does, and no amount of excuse-making will change that.
Remember 1998?
An Ice Storm, a big one.
A windstorm in southern AB caused power outages in 2021.
So what?
I wonder what one could find if I, like you, went back 25+ years.
AB gets a warning, and sometimes planned outages from a cold snap, ie without damage to their infrastructure.
In an observation widely-attributed to G. K. Chesterton, it is noted that “when men stop believing in God they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.”
The Enlightenment came very, VERY late to Quebec and the sociocultural DNA of the Quebecois is that of a pre-Enlightenment people. As has been noted by Louis Hartz (and his Canadian contributor – and my old prof – Ken McRae) in “The Founding of New Societies,” French Canada was almost exclusively peopled by pre-Enlightenment, God-fearing, ultramontanist Roman Catholics, and indeed so docile and unquestioning was the populace that they note that there was not even a single printing press in the entirety of New France!
However, it seems that the later modernity catches up with a traditional society, the more extreme that society throws of its traditions (writer/director Whit Stillman has one of his characters make this observation about Spain in the film “Barcelona”) and it can be convincingly argued that Quebec did not really experience the Enlightening until the so-called Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. At that point, virtually ALL traditions – home, hearth, faith, family, etc., etc. – were radically thrown off and today Quebec now one of the most radically secular, post-modern, post-Christian jurisdictions in perhaps the world.
But you can’t escape your DNA. As I’ve noted elsewhere in this blog’s comment section, “Beneath his too-fashionable-for Bay Street suit and his press-on modernity (of which he is so very proud), the French Canadian is a child of the soil. He – or she – is, at heart a dull, gullible peasant only two or three generations removed from one of the most servile, docile, devout, unquestioning, quietist group of people ever to inhabit the earth since the Dark Ages.”
Because of his radical secularism and his renunciation of all traditions, the Quebecois is not, to employ James’s Lindsay’s useful term “Based” and as such, he is a total “sucker” for all sorts of trends, fads, crazes, foibles, whimsies, and others such voguish enthusiasms (hence my “too-fashionable-for Bay Street suit” comment), socioculturally as well as politically, and this radical embrace of ‘net-zero’ and the extreme Green/anti-oil agenda is merely the latest manifestation of this pattern.
And like teenagers going “Goth”, this silly, apparently consequence-free, bandwagon-jumping is aided and abetted by having someone else pay for it, in this case, largely by the Western oil-producing provinces who will pay – via transfer payment aka “profitable Federalism” – for Quebec to impoverish itself.
Rob Henderson described a “Luxury Belief” as a belief that is held by someone who is insulated from the actual consequences of living according to said belief. In the Canadian context, Quebec’s embrace of the radical green agenda is as Luxury Belief that Canada’s “have” provinces are insulating them from, and it’s a luxury in which many of us do not believe Quebec should be indulged.
Who’s with me?
eric
Me thinks yer BULL must have eaten a large dose of X-lax.
Not sure that what means but how else would you explain Quebec’s embracing virtually every left-wing fad in the known universe?
Perhaps you’d care to enumerate some of these fads that QC has embraced while AB has not?
Okay UnMe, oops I mean yeahwell… (forgive me, I get the two of you mixed up), the trading day is over and now sipping my after-work Heineken, I will list some Left-wing fads/trends that Quebec has enthusiastically embraced:
1. Radical irreligiosity/de-Christianizing: Quebec is the most irreligious, perhaps anti-religious jurisdiction certainly in North America and perhaps the world (witness their “religious symbols ban” that they’ve appear to have been able to get away with).
2. Anti-marriage: perhaps a function of point #1 (above). Marriage is dead in Quebec with most couples now cohabitating. One would have to look to certain Euroweenie jurisdictions across the pond to find an equivalent.
3. Anti-natalism: Quebec once had the highest birth rate in the developed world; however now one would have to look to certain Asian countries like South Korea to find more dismal birth rates; once again perhaps not unrelated to Quebec’s radical embrace of post-Christian secular humanism.
4. Statism: Perhaps because demographic power was the greatest and at times only power that French Canadians had, Quebec has been more receptive to using the sometimes-coercive powers of the state to do things that in many other jurisdictions would be done by the private sector. The 1963 nationalization of private, Anglo power companies into Hydro Quebec set the model of several generations of state meddling and today the mighty Caisse practices its own version of Pension Fund Socialism. I also recall that during the Covid lockdown Quebec was one of the few jurisdictions that had an actual curfew and that people pretty much obeyed it
5. Terrorism: Quebec was virtually alone in North America in embracing the fashionable political terrorism of the 1960s of the type as practiced by certain continental Eurocommie-Euroweenies and bedraggled Third World aggrievistes.
6. Anti-Semitism: the Islamist “Quebecistan”-style anti-Semitism we are seeing now conveniently dovetails with traditional French-Canadian Jew-hatred (Mordecai Richler’s “Oh Canada, Oh Quebec” provides a good history of the latter)
7. Language Militancy/Anti-Anglo-Saxonism: In his book “Conspiracy”, Daniel Pipes notes in that along with the Jews and the Yanks, Anglo-Saxon form the third part of the triumvirate against whom paranoid conspiracies are directed. The Quebecois – always suspicious of Perfidious Albion or its Canadian colonial variant – take this even further, looking to purge their language of Angloisms that even France tolerates – e.g., ‘arrete’ for ‘stop’, ‘hambourgeois’ for ‘hamburger and ‘courriel’ for ‘email’, etc. Ridiculous little words for ridiculous little people.
I hope that is enough.
same old same old.. the ivory tower academics focus their influence efforts on the government ( ie the permanent bureaucrat state), who, because of their permanent employment bear no responsibility for bad policies, nor do the academics who also enjoy tenured positions. the ordinary citizen population bears the effects of this ridiculous , some might say incestuous situation. You raise some interesting questions about the Quebec mindset. I would suggest that the Roman Catholic church’s influence on Quebecers has a great deal to do with their apparent indifference to ever more ridiculous policies. Come to think of it, it’s more like the positional authority model of Islamic society, ie don’t question us or it will be bad for you.
Perhaps you’d care to enumerate some of these fads that QC has embraced while AB has not?
“X-lax” is a refererence to Ex-Lax, the laxative. He’s saying “bullshit” in his own obliquely faggy way. I frankly doubt that DNA has much to do with the French Canadian character, Pierre Poilievre has all the same genes yet shows none of the same failings. Dumbshit pepsis are raised, not born.
Focusing on the electricity supply, Quebec is uniquely blessed with vast and cheap hydro-electric resources. There is currently a large surplus that is sold for great profit to the NE USA and a bit to New Brunswick and Ontario. It might be possible for a few more years to electrify at reasonable cost more of the technologically easier uses like space heating. But eventually, as soon as within ten years, the surplus will disappear, the lucrative export contracts will be given up to satisfy domestic Quebec demand and the province will be obliged to confront the awful economics of “total decarbonisation”. Perhaps by then the fraud of catastrophic man-made climate change will also be evident and the whole ideologically driven climatist tilting at windmills will quietly subside.
So CanSco, you’re saying that Quebec’s messianic embrace of anti-oil and total decarbonization is based far more on its wanting its beloved Hydro Quebec – which was the first thing that was “nationalized” during the Quiet Revolution (I’m sure there is a holiday marking its commemoration in the province) – to become an even larger Energy Behemoth and to enlarge the coffers of the Quebec State, and is based less on Quebec being a ridiculous, left-wing, fad-driven society totally in the thrall of the New Green Orthodoxy? That’s interesting and resonates true.
So they are wrapping their naked self-interest in the cloak of concerned environmentalism. Interesting.
Eric
I agree with that essay but will add that the “luxury belief” paradigm includes a lot of urban and institutional voters. Areas like southern Vancouver Island and the gulf Islands are clusters of luxury believers and Lizzy May drones.
This is true. Canada is chock full of “Luxury Believers.”
In his book “Of Paradise and Power” Robert Kagan argues that their dependence of the US defense umbrella, and their subsequent NOT paying for their own national defence (thus permitting money to be spent on, and their sociopolitical culture to indulge itself in, more frivolous [read: left-wing] things) – has infantilized the political culture of a whole host of European countries. However, you could do a “search and replace” in the text, taking out “Europe” and replacing it with “Canada” and Kagan’s book would lose none of its accuracy. What YouTuber J. J. McCullough calls “Canada’s weird, left-wing, anti-American nationalism” is a true Luxury Belief.
Shrug. They swapped the tyranny of the church for the tyranny of the state. And never having experienced it, they’ve convinced themselves that the new boots on their back is what freedom feels like.
“The key point is Alberta’s push to electrify everything, from heating to vehicular transportation.”
Did you not mean “Québec’s push to electrify”?
Fixed. Thank you.
Time to renegotiate the equalization formula.
Any province that reduces its tax base through deliberate policy, as Quebec is doing here, should have equalization reduced by the amount of tax forgone.
O&G should be exempt the same as Quebec’s hydroelectricity.
And in 2040(ish) the Churchill Falls agreement ends.
Quebec is a social, political and fiscal liability – time to cut the strings.
Imagine that, another foreign (though almost always Chinese-owned) petroleum company that chose not to pay its obligations while pocketing revenue. F0rcing good companies and taxpayers to cover their debts.
That now makes Sunshine Oilsands, Twin Butte Energy, SanLing Energy, Long Run Exploration, Sequoia Resources, Tallahassee Exploration…
All thanks to the imbecilic supporters of the NDP who wanted “their fair share” and who were furious that the most ethical and responsible producers on earth were the bad people that communist groups masquerading as environmental concerns told them they were.
There is no greater fool than a Dipper.
Forgot to mention foreign-owned Lexin (was Compton) that not only defaulted on its payments, but also began selling off assets (compressor skids and the like) while owing others. And then choosing not to perform maintenance on their sulphur plant just outside of Calgary.
Risking the lives of a few hundred thousand people nearby.
And then had the balls to threaten suing the AER for FINALLY shutting them down after skipping payments forever, claiming their actions would risk harming their financial viability.
But Canadian producers are the irresponsible ones…
you got that right! I worked at one time for three of the companies you listed and non-compliance was the operating principle.. it’s as if the AER was afraid of being called racist for going after them……
Does anyone else find it amusing that the primary reason that SMR’s (small modular reactor) aren’t being explored to their potential is that the lobby for Climate Change has deemed them too slow in response to the immediate emergency of “boiling seas?” While simultaneously, the solar and wind energy businesses are declining (and not producing anywhere near what they thought to be the potential) as highlighted on this site consistently.
I find that funny…and ironic.
Ontario has already started building one, with 3 more in planning stages.
With Saskatchewan next in the batter’s box for a minimum 2, and likely 4, and many more after that.
Good to hear.
Its a good tech, ready to use, unlike pie-in-the-sky stuff like thorium or fusion.
No, I’m talking about “Small” Modular Reactors. You can put them on a table top. There are a handful of companies trying to perfect them. The goal of some of those companies is to make them small enough and reliable enough to power Jet planes and motor vehicles. Heat houses individually…and the like. I think Russia is already operating two Ice Breaker ships using SMR’s.
Ahh.
I agree.
A little thing the size of a bar fridge to power a small apt. building or a home, with a nice 20 years between refueling, 30 if you can cut power use after a time.
I fear that would result in too much energy independence for our owner’s tastes.
NEP 2. National Electricity Program. ‘Made in Canada’ electricity prices. Again, producers can swallow the cost of transportation of electricity to ‘have-not’ Provinces. You know, goose and gander concept.
Gotta stop electing PM’s from Quebec.
I guess that leaves you choosing between May and Jag.
Good luck with that.
Pierre is from Calgary
He’s got a frog name. His family is French.
Or is it only a matter of where a man is born that matters to you?
Max is more conservative than Pierre.
I think they should tread carefully with Sunshine Oilsands or the government might end up owning an orphaned oilsands operation that could cost the province way too much money. Demand a reorganization that requires new local ownership with a track record of honesty and then drop the penalty.
Quebekki is angling toward a 3rd referendum. The stars are starting to align. Maybe this time…
Eric
All true but in a way our reluctance due mostly to LPC disdain for the military is also perhaps a blessing in disguise in that we dodged the disasters of Viet Nam and Iraq, but got sucked into Afghanistan. That we have a token presence in the Baltics to help encircle and threaten Russia underscores the lack of relevance in (post Soviet Union) NATO and therefore the folly in being tied to US neocon foreign policy through treaties. I believe that we should have a strong (including perhaps nuclear) deterrent-based military but other than a purely defensive oriented union such as NORAD, we should avoid foreign treaties and entanglements.