
Two powerful voices of the Quebec business community have backed the Energy East project.
What does Energy East mean for Quebec?
- Thousands of jobs
- More business opportunities for many companies in the province
- A reliable source of oil supply that will replace higher-priced crude imports
- The safe transportation of a product essential to the proper functioning of our economy
This week, two powerful voices of the Quebec business community came out in support of the Energy East Pipeline project, which will transport oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Eastern refineries.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) said the project was “in the economic interest” of the city’s business community and recommended that the Montreal Metropolitan Community “supports its implementation.”
“This project will have a positive impact on the refining and petrochemicals industries in the metropolis and across the entire value chain linked to them,” said Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the CCMM, which counts more than 7,000 members in the Montreal business community.
“In East Montreal alone, we are talking about nearly 50 companies and more than 3,500 well-paid direct jobs,” he added, pointing that six refineries have already been permanently shut down in the northwestern part of North America, including one by Shell in Montreal in 2010 – partly because more expensive foreign oil imports are hurting the competitiveness of local refineries.
Energy East is planned to supply the Suncor refinery in Montreal and that of Valero in Levis.
The Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce (FCCQ) echoed this message on Thursday, saying Energy East would “increase the competitiveness of Quebec refineries by creating a domestic market for Canadian oil.”
“It is in our collective interest to exploit natural resources from our own country, a reliable supply that generates significant economic benefits for Canada,” noted Michel Leblanc from CCMM. “By enabling better access to Canadian oil, the Energy East project will improve our country’s trade balance.”
PRAGMATICSLOT88 is committed to work transparently and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and reliability of the pipeline during operations.
Quebec needs this oil not just to fuel its cars, buses and trucks, but also to manufacture many daily essentials such as the cell phone you may be using to read this article.
Pipelines represent the safest way to transport oil over long distances. They are also more environmentally respectful than other energy transport modes. We expect that the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) arising from the transport of oil from Alberta to eastern Canada will be less by pipeline than by rail.
This was also suggested by the CCMM.
“Blocking Energy East would have a minimal effect on GHG emissions since oil consumed in Quebec would simply come from somewhere else, as it is currently the case,” concluded Michel Leblanc.