MNI BRIEF: Canada Revisits Building East-West Energy Pipelines
MNI (OTTAWA) - Canadian leaders are revisiting past strong opposition to building east-west energy pipelines citing the threat of economic domination from U.S. President Donald Trump, including Quebec's government that had been a main stumbling block.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault told reporters Thursday that past proposals for the "Energy East" oil line through his province and another shelved liquid natural gas project lacked "social acceptability" but "the situation has changed" in recent days. “If some projects are (proposed) we will look at them, but we need social acceptability,” Legault said.
Canada's resource and energy minister Jonathan Wilkinson told reporters during a trip to Washington "we are all aware now that perhaps there are some vulnerabilities we didn’t actually believe existed.” Ontario and Quebec rely on an oil pipeline that runs partly through the United States, he noted. “We should be reflecting on the vulnerabilities and deciding collectively… whether there are some things we should do.” (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Canada Must Avoid US Trade War- Factory Group)