Quebec is open for business, Legault says
Premier travelling to U.S., Ontario to promote hydro exports
Premier François Legault says he is going to the United States to make it clear that Quebec is open for business. A few hours before stepping on a flight to visit politicians and business leaders in New England and, later, Ontario, Legault said he’s ready to play the role of the province’s chief salesman on this, his first business investment foray outside Quebec. “I will be in Boston today and tomorrow,” Legault told a meeting of the Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités Wednesday. “I will be in Toronto Monday. I will have one message to deliver to people outside of Quebec. We are open for business.” Legault made a point to saying the “we are open for business” line in English within a French speech. “I want to talk about energy first,” he told reporters later when asked about the trip, which wraps up Monday with a meeting with Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Toronto. “I would like to see if we can add to this (export) capacity. We have surpluses of electricity now and I’m open to build new dams. “I want to see if we can export even more to Ontario and New England.” Legault said one specific item on his agenda is the future of a recently signed export contract between Hydro- Québec and three electricity distributors to provide power to the state of Massachusetts for 20 years starting in 2022. Legault will raise the question of transmission lines for the project when he meets Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker Thursday. Legault will also be speaking to the New England Council the same day. “There was an agreement in principle signed but it has not been ratified yet,” Legault said. “I want to give Mr. Baker a clear message; that we want to keep working on this.” He had a similar discussion about power Wednesday in Montreal when he met Vermont Gov. Phil Scott. Scott told the Montreal Gazette later that Vermont is willing to help Hydro-Québec if its plan to export power to Massachusetts through Maine falls through. That plan was chosen after the plan to export power through New Hampshire failed to get regulatory approval. The conduit through Vermont, promoted by Transmission Developers Inc., was not chosen because it was more costly than other options, but Scott said it has all the permits it needs. Legault, however, was asked how he reconciles his pro-investment agenda with Quebec’s growing environmental movement, which is calling for action on climate change. Last Saturday, an estimated 50,000 people took to the streets of Montreal saying the planet’s future is at stake. A day before the protest, Legault met with Dominic Champagne, a theatre director who speaks for the Planet Joins Parliament/ La planète s’invite au parlement movement, which is urging Quebecers to sign The Pact/le Pacte de transition, which is a pledge to move from words to action on climate change. Climate change “is an important priority but people also told us clearly they would like to have more money in their pockets, more jobs and better-paid jobs,” Legault said in his first remarks on the protests. “So (fighting climate change) is a priority but we also have other priorities. What is important is to have a balance between these priorities.” Legault preached the benefits of hydro exports in the election campaign and has said repeatedly he wants to make good use of the province’s current power surpluses. And he was critical of former premier Philippe Couillard, who said the era of dam-building in Quebec was past. The current estimate is that the province will end 2019 with a surplus of 9.8 terawatts of power. “We’re going to do business to enrich Quebecers,” Legault said, arriving for a meeting of the Quebec cabinet earlier. He said when he meets Ontario Premier Doug Ford he will argue it makes more sense and will be less costly for the province to buy Quebec’s power than spend billions re-tooling aging nuclear plants. He has said in the past that the best thing Quebec can do to help the planet reduce greenhouse gas emissions is export more power to replace the burning of coal and gas.