Quebec party leaders talk surgery wait times, shale gas as election campaign ramps up, Housing, education and efficiency also among Monday’s announcements by Hénia Ould-Hammou, CBC News, Aug 31, 2026
…
Conservatives want to revive shale gas development
The Quebec Conservatives said they want to revive shale gas development in Quebec to protect the province’s “energy independence.”
Leader Éric Duhaime said Quebec sits atop one of the world’s largest untapped natural gas basins.
The party estimates that the development of the Utica Shale, located between Quebec City and Montreal along the St. Lawrence Valley, could generate $9.4 billion over 10 years and create 6,000 new jobs.
Speaking to reporters in Villeroy Monday in the Centre-du-Québec region, Duhaime said his party wants to make the province less dependent on the U.S.
Frac’ing is not the answer, go wind, storage and solar. Paying to install solar on every home will produce far more jobs and much safer energy than frac’ing ever will. Quebec has hydro, why frac the province? Frac’ing will fast destroy it. PS Don’t listen to Michael Binnion.
…
Canada announces US$50 billion plan to boost clean energy 18 Aug 2026, Channel News Asia
MONTREAL: Canadian officials announced plans on Monday (Aug 17) to massively enhance wind and hydropower generation in the eastern part of the country, in a project Ottawa called “the largest clean energy investment in North American history.”
The tentative agreement between Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, the province of Quebec as well as Newfoundland and Labrador marks a major effort to increase electricity production.
It includes plans to upgrade the Churchill Falls generating station while developing a new hydro project on Gull Island. Both sites are in Labrador, on Canada’s Atlantic coast.
Some of the new power generated would also be transmitted to Quebec, with utility Hydro-Quebec selling a significant amount of electricity into the northeastern United States.
Carney’s office put the total investments in the project at nearly C$70 billion (US$50.5 billion).
But the initiative could be stalled within months.
At Monday’s signing ceremony in Newfoundland, Quebec Premier Christine Frechette acknowledged that her political opponents, the separatist Parti Quebecois, could tear up the agreement if they win provincial elections in October, an outcome current polls suggest is likely.
But if the project moves forward, Carney said the amount of power generated would be “enough to light, heat (and) cool the homes in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver combined.”
Since taking office last year, Carney has been criticised by environmentally conscious groups who accuse him of betraying climate pledges backed by his predecessor Justin Trudeau.
A member of Carney’s cabinet resigned last year over plans to advance a new oil pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific coast.
Monday’s announcement was however welcomed by the Canadian Climate Institute, which said it showed “the level of ambition needed to reach Canada’s goal of doubling the electricity grid with clean energy”.
The group’s president, Rick Smith, said that enhancing domestic clean energy supply will also “improve energy security and affordability in a time of volatile energy price swings”.