Legault the darling of the first ministers’ meeting
Promises of cash help make first ministers meeting big win for premier
In the great Canadian family of first ministers who gathered Friday in Montreal, one man emerged as the happiest of the bunch: the former sovereignist-turned nationalist Premier François Legault. Beaming would be a more accurate description. With daggers drawn between several premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Ottawa’s plan to slap a carbon tax on them to fight climate change, the newly elected Legault wrapped up his first showing in the “Canadian club” by saying he had a very good day. Not only did he obtain assurances of more federal money to pay for asylum seekers and a promise of aid for Quebec’s dairy farmers, but Legault’s pitch to sell more of the province’s hydro surpluses — a green energy compared to oil — made him the darling of the event. And the fact he politely said ‘thanks but no thanks’ to ministers hoping he would allow an oil pipeline — a return of the defunct Energy East project — carry Alberta oil across Quebec to tidewater and shipment overseas will endear him with Quebec’s surging climate change movement. The icing on the cake? He and Trudeau seemed to click at the dinner of premiers Thursday evening and the two sat beside each other at the negotiation table where, face it, Trudeau needed a friend in the face of newly elected irked Conservative premiers. “A gang of separatists, is that what you mean,” quipped the former Parti Québécois cabinet minister when asked if it felt unusual to watch the other leaders ruining Trudeau’s party, when in the past Quebec made such headlines. “On the environment, we (Trudeau and him) pretty well agreed,” Legault said. “I think we have proof Quebec has a balanced position — we are pro-environment, pro-economic development. I sensed there were many people who wanted to have me in their camp.” Legault was asked if he was Trudeau’s new best friend. “I wouldn’t say that because, as you know, I am more a defender of provincial autonomy,” he said. But Legault rolled with the punches, showing empathy, too — particularly for Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s reality of having energy resources to sell, but no way to get more of it to market because of the stall on the Trans Mountain pipeline. That situation has plunged the oilpatch into crisis and Notley wants help from Ottawa. Quebec faces a similar “stranded energy” predicament with its hydroelectric surpluses, which Legault is trying to peddle east, west and south. Hydro-Québec’s problem is getting new power lines approved in the United States. He said he wants to make Ontario an offer it can’t refuse: cheap clean power as an alternative to spending $20 billion re-tooling aging nuclear generating plants. “The big advantage we have is that our energy costs less and is clean,” Legault told reporters. On the other hand, he made no apologies for saying no to New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, who asked Legault to reconsider his refusal to consider a new pipeline across Quebec. On Thursday, Legault said pipelines are no longer socially acceptable in Quebec. “I am not at all embarrassed to refuse dirty energy when we offer clean energy at a competitive price,” Legault said. “I understand the sensitivity of the issue in Quebec,” Higgs responded. At her own news conference, Notley reminded the other provinces, including Quebec — which receive equalization payments — that much of that wealth comes from Alberta oil, so her problems are also theirs. In fact, on the same day as the conference, Alberta purchased ads in Quebec media, including the Montreal Gazette, saying delays in the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion are costing Canadians $80 million a day. Legault said he gets the message. He, too, wants to make Quebec richer so it no longer requires the $12 billion it gets a year in equalization. “My long-term objective is to be as rich as the rest of Canada and I felt support for hydro sales, from Manitoba, the federal government, Newfoundland,” Legault said. While Legault walked out the door with a smile, the same cannot be said for Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. They arrived gunning for a fight with Trudeau over the carbon tax and they got it. Conspicuously absent at the joint closing news conference with Trudeau and the other first ministers, Ford ripped into Trudeau on his way out. He accused Trudeau of “trying to move the goalposts” on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions he expects Ontario to eliminate, from 30 per cent to a higher figure. “What I was told by the prime minister is that is no longer the case, after everyone signed on to 30 per cent, some will carry more water than other provinces,” Ford said. Trudeau’s response was stinging. “He thinks we should make pollution free again,” Trudeau said. “That is not something I agree on. If anyone is moving the goalposts, it is Premier Ford.”