CAQ and Liberals not opposed to new pipeline projects in Quebec

Quebec Premier Francois Legault responds to reporters questions, Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. Legault is congratulating Jason Kenney on his electoral victory in Alberta while reminding the premier-designate that Quebec's position on oil pipelines hasn't changed. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Coalition Avenir Québec and Liberal MNAs voted against a Québec Solidaire motion calling on “the Quebec government to oppose the development of any pipeline project on its territory,” while the Parti Québecois supported it.

The Liberals scoffed at QS’ proposal, saying that a pipeline could transport something other than oil or gas.

“A pipeline can be used to transport petroleum products, an oil pipeline, or natural gas, a gas pipeline, or to transport other fluids, such as salt water or hydrogen,” explained Liberal MNA Gregory Kelley during the debate on the motion Wednesday.

“What I sense and then what I hear from the Quebec Liberal Party is that they are preparing the ground for their next leader — perhaps Pablo Rodriguez — who comes from the Liberal Party of Canada. We know how much the Liberal Party of Canada loves pipeline projects, so much so that they’ve already nationalized one,” said QS co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal on Thursday.

Last week, the Legault government opened the door to Quebec re-examining projects such as LNG Quebec (gas) and Energy East (oil).

“We will be ready to study these projects on their merits,” Environment Minister Benoit Charette reiterated on Thursday.

The minister also defended himself, saying that projects of this kind did not run counter to his own government’s law putting an end to all hydrocarbon exploration and production activities in Quebec.

“These are two different things. Distribution is allowed in Quebec, so energy corridors are completely permissible,’ he explained.

Conservative leader Éric Duhaime, who is in favour of pipeline projects, said the CAQ is hypocritical.

“The problem with Legault is that he no longer has any credibility when he talks about these issues, because he says everything and its opposite,” he said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The vote on the motion comes as a SOM-La Presse poll shows that a majority of Quebecers are now in favour of reviving the LNG Quebec (61 per cent) and Energy East (59 per cent) projects.

American President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have reignited the debate on how the Quebec and Canadian economies can become less dependent on the United States.

LNG-Québec is a project to build an LNG terminal in Saguenay to export Alberta natural gas. Quebec refused to authorize the project in 2021 and Ottawa in 2022, mainly for environmental reasons.

The Énergie Est project, meanwhile, aimed to build a pipeline to transport oil from Alberta to New Brunswick. The project died in 2017.

Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Feb. 13, 2025.