Energy East carries election issues from Quebec to English Canada
[ http://rabble.ca/news/2015/02/energy-ea ... ish-canada ]
By David Gray-Donald | February 5, 2015
TransCanada's Energy East pipeline has been catapulted to centre stage in Quebec. It wasn't on the public radar a year ago. But now, after a summer of energetic citizen mobilization against it, a phone survey in October indicated only 33 per cent of the population was in favour of the pipeline being built. [ http://rabble.ca/news/2014/11/english-c ... resistance ]
Since then opposition has continued to mount. TransCanada's west to east project has been hitting the tender nerve of Quebec sovereignty, the complex concept of who has the authority to make decisions about what happens there.
TransCanada leaves Quebec out of the loop
The Albertan company is planning to build 700km of the largest tar sands pipeline on the continent through the 'nation' of Quebec [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Québécois_nation_motion ] to get to the Atlantic for export. [ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/18 ... 83669.html ] But, as reported by Le Devoir on Jan 20, TransCanada has neglected to formally submit to the Quebec government their intent to proceed on Energy East. [ http://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/a ... -au-quebec ] This surprised many; the project was officially submitted to the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) on Oct 30, 2014.
According to TransCanada the project is not on hold. But without having received formal notice, Quebec cannot initiate their BAPE process, [ http://www.bape.gouv.qc.ca/sections/faq/eng_faq_ind.htm ] which would provide information to the public and do "consultation on projects likely to have a major impact on the environment." With no movement to date on the BAPE, its results may be unavailable or incomplete at the time of the NEB's important fall hearings on Energy East.
This insult followed shortly after it came to light TransCanada did not submit Energy East documents in French to the NEB and the federal regulator has made no requirement for translations to be produced. This is being challenged in court by a coalition of groups. [ http://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/a ... nergie-est ]
Gilles Duceppe, former leader of the Bloc Quebecois (which went from 49 to four federal seats in 2011), penned an article in the Journal de Montreal on Jan 21 blasting TransCanada's disregard for Quebec. [ http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/0 ... -du-quebec ] He also criticized the provincial Liberal government for not taking matters into its own hands, for deferring to Ottawa's authority.
Duceppe and the many others who have decried the project may be trying to strategically fan the flames of sovereigntist discontent for political gain, but they aren't missing the mark on public opinion by much. Eighty-seven per cent of Quebecers believe the province, not just the federal government, should have authority to approve or refuse the project according to a November survey.
[ http://www.lapresse.ca/environnement/20 ... canada.php ]
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