Self-Righteous Hypocrisy

"Among the 3.7 million Quebecers who had a job in 2016 and who worked away from home, 78 percent said they primarily used a personal vehicle to get there [to place of employment]."
Universite de Montreal report on energy use in Quebec

"Yes, there is a certain degree of hypocrisy in all humans, and obviously, with regards to certain positions that Quebecers take [on energy], there is some hypocrisy there."
"One hundred percent of electricity in Quebec is from renewal resources [resulting from Quebec's hydroelectric James Bay source of renewable, non-carbon-producing energy production; a circumstance of geology]."
"Also, Quebecers are less rich than other Canadians, meaning they consume less energy, have less cars [traditionally]."
Professor Pierre-Olivier Pineau, co-author, report on Quebec energy use

Hydro Quebec, Valtech    James Bay hydroelectricity project

Quebec prides itself on its use of 'clean energy'. The province has been gifted by nature with 40 percent of Canada's freshwater resources. It has the monumental James Bay project and Churchill Falls which Hydro Quebec uses internally for energy use at the cheapest rates in North America, and which it also uses as a salable natural resource at prevailing market rates from its 63 power stations to customers in New England, U.S.A. To say that Quebec is smug about its clean energy policies is to understate the situation. Energy from wind farms also play a significant role in energy production.

The general portrait of Quebec and Quebecers is that of environmentally conscious citizens of the world, loyal to the government's vision of green energy, conservation and environmental awareness of the highest order. So much so, that its new Premier Francois Legault spoke publicly of his contempt for western Canadian oil, stating there was "no social acceptability" in Quebec for a "dirty energy" pipeline to be built from Alberta to eastern Canada.

This assertion did not go down very well with the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan who in the best interests of those oil-and-gas-producing provinces and Canada as a whole are in dire need of pipelines to move their products to tidewater to ship to markets abroad, much less to Canadians living in the east who would far prefer Canadian oil and gas to imports from the Middle East. Alberta is forced to sell its oil well below market place for want of a reliable, efficient transportation system.

Quebecers enjoy scorning 'dirty oil' as they will have it, from Alberta. Lauding themselves for their 'green' credentials, and paying for their social programs with equalization payments doled out by the federal government from taxes levied against the provinces then re-distributed to the 'have-not' provinces which Quebec has always portrayed itself as, needful of a hand up from other provinces deemed wealthier, among which Alberta is the foremost. So while Alberta struggles with a deficit this fiscal year and Quebec has balanced its books, the facade of green superiority sizzles.



Quebecers, however, represent some of the highest energy consumers in the world. This, according to a newly issued report prepared by researchers at Universite de Montreal's school of business. Quebecers, new data indicate, are purchasing record amounts of gasoline, purchasing gas-guzzling trucks and larger homes. While per capita carbon emissions in the province remain the country's lowest as the province has decreased its overall emissions by 11 percent since 1990, it is mostly attributable to their hydroelectric energy source.

Vehicle sales of trucks, SUVs and pickups in Quebec between 1990 and 2017 increased by 246 percent, while gasoline sales leaped 33 percent in that same time period. Since 2015, yearly sales of larger vehicles requiring more gas have vastly overtaken the sale of cars. Moreover, between 1990 and 2015 the average surface area of a home in Quebec has increased by 17 percent.

The conclusion is that, on a per-capita basis, people living in Quebec consume far more energy than the global average, similar to the consumption seen in countries like China and Germany, almost as much as people living in the United States. Sleight of mind?

Ville Marie, Montreal, Quebec