First...response to John.... re: eastern imports of Saudi Oil..... the oil companies import Saudi oil because the margin is better for the oil companies.....don't blame us in the east...secondly ....most of the oil coming through the east will go to export because 1) no refinery is set up yet to refine that amount, and 2) no oil company is gonna build a 16 billion refinery in Alberta, Montreal, or St John to do it when they can export it to Port Arthur Texas and make more money.....and Stan ...equal;ization is formula based....you don't hold anyone hostage.....I wish we were paying equalization ..it would mean that our mean annual salary rates would be extremely high....as well...the pipeline decision will be made by the NEB...and that NEB appears to have been topped up by HARPER before he left...to the point that provinces simply do not trust the environmental assessment....thus they are making sure it passes their own....a little more transparency from Harper might have prevented this ......
Scott Drysdale - 8 years ago
Most citizens in Quebec are not objecting to a better economy and the jobs that the pipeline can bring to them and therefore are not opposed. And they realize that stifling Canada's energy economy will undermine energy transfer payments coming in to PQ. So it is the Quebec leaders and lawyers who are the root of the problem....... trying to convince Quebec voters to support them again in the next provincial, municipal elections...... by creating a pseudo-enemy from outside of the PQ boundary. If English Canadians and news articles continue to antagonize the franco-phones, everyone will lose out.....
John - 8 years ago
It has always puzzled me as to why Quebecers , and other eastern provinces prefer to import oil from countries like Saudi Arabia , and others, with no environmental standards, support for terrorists , hold public beheadings, have no respect for women , or for human rights in general, yet oppose western oil , produced under strict environmental laws by fellow Canadians, while accepting equalization payments of 10 billion a year , much of which revenues are derivid from tax revenues produced by that oil. It's time for Quebecers to grow up and realize where their bread is being buttered.
Dave - 8 years ago
Quebec should join the ranks of the actor who doesn't know the difference between global warming and a Chinook. Clearly they are trying to stifle any opportunity for the west to move forward. Like many environmentalists, their tongues are in motion before their brains are in gear.
Yves Cloutier - 8 years ago
Hello from Quebec. Let me start by saying that I approve the Energy East pipeline once they move the path out of environmentally sensitive areas (has not Trans-Canada learned from Keystone??).
I am just wondering why Western Canada did not propose to send their less expansive oil to Eastern Canada several years ago when we were paying much more for Brent oil. Funny how national unity creeps up after Keystone was stopped and the oil could not be sent to the US. Actually I am sorry, the West is not sending their oil to Quebec, it is sending it to the Irving refinery in NB to be then sent to the US east coast by boat. And I thought we were close to your heart. I thought that maybe you felt bad because the high canadian dollar induced by elevated oil price decimated the manufacturing industry in Central Canada and the jobs that may never come back increasing our need for transfer payments. But you know what, I feel for the West right now and the hardship on the families that are loosing jobs so I will support Energy East even if it does little for me. We are all in the same boat after all and it does not matter where the leak is located. I am just asking that the West lowers the tone (yes I understand you feel you always got the short end of the stick in this great country of ours) as it does not help sway pubic opinion your way in my part of the country.
Best regards and best of luck in this hardship.
Stan - 8 years ago
It isn't that Quebec doesn't want the pipeline, they just want to hold the west hostage for more "equalization payments". In typical Quebec fashion, they want to be able to laze about and live off money from the west. A little advice - when you are ready to retire, move to Quebec and take advantage of the extra social benefits.
First...response to John.... re: eastern imports of Saudi Oil..... the oil companies import Saudi oil because the margin is better for the oil companies.....don't blame us in the east...secondly ....most of the oil coming through the east will go to export because 1) no refinery is set up yet to refine that amount, and 2) no oil company is gonna build a 16 billion refinery in Alberta, Montreal, or St John to do it when they can export it to Port Arthur Texas and make more money.....and Stan ...equal;ization is formula based....you don't hold anyone hostage.....I wish we were paying equalization ..it would mean that our mean annual salary rates would be extremely high....as well...the pipeline decision will be made by the NEB...and that NEB appears to have been topped up by HARPER before he left...to the point that provinces simply do not trust the environmental assessment....thus they are making sure it passes their own....a little more transparency from Harper might have prevented this ......
Most citizens in Quebec are not objecting to a better economy and the jobs that the pipeline can bring to them and therefore are not opposed. And they realize that stifling Canada's energy economy will undermine energy transfer payments coming in to PQ. So it is the Quebec leaders and lawyers who are the root of the problem....... trying to convince Quebec voters to support them again in the next provincial, municipal elections...... by creating a pseudo-enemy from outside of the PQ boundary. If English Canadians and news articles continue to antagonize the franco-phones, everyone will lose out.....
It has always puzzled me as to why Quebecers , and other eastern provinces prefer to import oil from countries like Saudi Arabia , and others, with no environmental standards, support for terrorists , hold public beheadings, have no respect for women , or for human rights in general, yet oppose western oil , produced under strict environmental laws by fellow Canadians, while accepting equalization payments of 10 billion a year , much of which revenues are derivid from tax revenues produced by that oil. It's time for Quebecers to grow up and realize where their bread is being buttered.
Quebec should join the ranks of the actor who doesn't know the difference between global warming and a Chinook. Clearly they are trying to stifle any opportunity for the west to move forward. Like many environmentalists, their tongues are in motion before their brains are in gear.
Hello from Quebec. Let me start by saying that I approve the Energy East pipeline once they move the path out of environmentally sensitive areas (has not Trans-Canada learned from Keystone??).
I am just wondering why Western Canada did not propose to send their less expansive oil to Eastern Canada several years ago when we were paying much more for Brent oil. Funny how national unity creeps up after Keystone was stopped and the oil could not be sent to the US. Actually I am sorry, the West is not sending their oil to Quebec, it is sending it to the Irving refinery in NB to be then sent to the US east coast by boat. And I thought we were close to your heart. I thought that maybe you felt bad because the high canadian dollar induced by elevated oil price decimated the manufacturing industry in Central Canada and the jobs that may never come back increasing our need for transfer payments. But you know what, I feel for the West right now and the hardship on the families that are loosing jobs so I will support Energy East even if it does little for me. We are all in the same boat after all and it does not matter where the leak is located. I am just asking that the West lowers the tone (yes I understand you feel you always got the short end of the stick in this great country of ours) as it does not help sway pubic opinion your way in my part of the country.
Best regards and best of luck in this hardship.
It isn't that Quebec doesn't want the pipeline, they just want to hold the west hostage for more "equalization payments". In typical Quebec fashion, they want to be able to laze about and live off money from the west. A little advice - when you are ready to retire, move to Quebec and take advantage of the extra social benefits.