Reviving Saguenay natural gas project would 'contribute' to environment, Quebec Conservative leader says

The project to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in the Saguenay has been refused by the provincial and federal governments, deemed environmentally and socially costly and panned by citizens and members of the Indigenous communities.

Despite that, Éric Duhaime's Conservative Party of Quebec is promising the project will come to fruition if he's elected.

The project would include the construction of a plant and a wharf on the Saguenay fjord with infrastructure to store gas, load tankers and ship liquefied natural gas from a marine terminal near the Grande-Anse port to markets overseas.

"I know for some people, they perceive a contradiction when we say, we should exploit our oil and gas here instead of importing it but we do believe that's the best thing we can do right now to contribute to the environment," Duhaime said, standing at the port of La Baie near the shore of the Saguenay river.

"Those who want the LNG project will vote Conservative and those who are against it, should vote for the CAQ."

A bold statement considering the Énergie Saguenay $14-billion-estimated project has been met with a lot of opposition — mainly from environmentalists.

Series of rejections

In March 2021, Quebec's environmental review board (BAPE) released a report which stated the benefits of the project do not outweigh the environmental and social costs associated with it.

In July of that year, the Quebec government rejected the project and in February this year, so too did the federal government.

Despite a Radio-Canada report which said CAQ economy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon was having private talks about the project, Premier François Legault says it's not happening.

"Regarding gas, first we don't produce gas in Quebec, so it would mean a pipeline. There's no social acceptability and the BAPE said no. So the door is closed for gas," the CAQ leader said.

Other than Duhaime, the other leaders campaigning on Wednesday were unanimous in condemning the idea of reviving the Saguenay project. The Liberals, Québec Solidaire, Parti Québécois and Green Party all reiterated their opposition to the project.

There is local 'social acceptability,' says Duhaime

During his news conference, Duhaime said it was false of Legault to say there was no social acceptability for the project.

Duhaime cited a small poll conducted by the research firm SOM for a local Saguenay radio station, which suggested a majority of local residents favoured the project. That support decreased among Quebecers outside the region.

"Here, there is social acceptability. Social acceptability isn't 500 kilometres away, it's in the community where the project will be," Duhaime said.

But it wasn't just a lack of social acceptability that doomed the project.

The BAPE report noted the risk to marine life was high specifically to the area's beluga whale population. Duhaime says he considers the BAPE report dated and inaccurate.

"The BAPE study was done before the war in Ukraine, before the Russians decided to cut off Western Europe," he said.

"We could have a great impact if we were sending natural gas to our European allies."

The report also had something to say about that.

It stated the ongoing global competition for LNG production and exportation was high and that by the time the project was up in running, it would likely be too late to be competitive in the market.

Sylvain Audette agrees. The expert on energy markets and guest professor at Université de Montréal's business school, says the war in Ukraine has accelerated the immediate need for LNG to avoid relying on Russian gas.

"We're too late, basically we're too late. The European Union already has a plan to get rid of all dependence on [Russian] natural gas by 2027," he said.

The European Commission's proposal, called REPowerEU, looks to diversify the continent's gas supply and specifically mentions looking at getting it from countries like Azerbaijan, Norway and Algeria.

"I don't think we could do it fast enough by 2027," Audette said about the project in Saguenay. "Quebec is not even in the equation in any of these talks."

Duhaime doesn't seem to mind.

"An investment of $14-billion in a region like this one doesn't come up often," he said.