QS wants Legault to leverage energy prices in negotiations with Trump

Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal speaking at Quebec's National Assembly. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)

Québec Solidaire (QS) is urging François Legault’s government to leverage the price of our hydroelectricity in negotiations with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

QS Co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said if the U.S. president-elect wants to impose tariffs, the province should threaten to hike the price of electricity.

“We don’t need to wait [after other premiers and the federal government] ... We are the only people who can defend the interests of Quebec, and this is the responsibility of Mr. Legault,” she said Sunday. “We have important leverage to face this threat, and that’s our hydroelectricity. Our energy is in demand all around the world, and we export a big quantity of our hydroelectricity to some states.”

Legault is expected to join other Canadian premiers on a negotiation trip to Washington, led by Ontario’s Doug Ford, on Feb. 12.

However, Ghazal said the provinces' interests are not necessarily aligned, “so we don’t need to wait for a consensus.”

Ford has previously threatened to cut off electricity from his province to 1.5 million homes in New York, Michigan and Minnesota as a “last resort,” and federal Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly recently said “everything is on the table” when asked whether the government was prepared to cut off energy exports.

Legault has said he is opposed to cutting off energy exports to retaliate, along with Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador’s premiers.

Ghazal accused Legault of being “very passive” and “wasting our time” by pandering to Trump’s whims.

She said she wants the province to stand up to Trump.

“He thinks that if in Quebec we respond to the demand of Trump, he will stop increasing the tariffs,” she said. “I’m offering him a solution. Why not use our most powerful leverage to negotiate with Trump?”

Ghazal said Quebecers shouldn’t be worried about increasing the price of hydroelectricity backfiring against them.

According to Hydro‑Quebec, about half of its exports go to the New England region, which includes Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

New York is considered an important client, and the construction of a line to supply electricity to New York City is ongoing.

Another interconnection between Quebec and New England is also in the works.

Ghazal said the U.S. government can’t force states to go back to fossil fuels, and increasing tariffs would bring in more money for Quebec.

“I think the answer against Trump will not even come from Quebec. It will come from Americans who will ask Trump to stop because they want their economy also to be safe,” she said.

Even if the country moved away from Quebec’s hydroelectricity, Ghazal said she is confident the Crown corporation can develop relationships with clients outside the U.S.

When asked if the government would consider leveraging energy prices in negotiations, a spokesperson for the office of the Minister for the Economy, Innovation and Energy, Christine Fréchette, said, “It’s important to keep a cool head” while gauging Trump’s intentions.

“All our energies must be devoted to preventing these tariffs from being imposed,” the office said.

Law expert says it’s not a wise move

Dan Kraft, a law professor at Université de Montréal, said the idea of increasing hydroelectricity rates in the United States is “political bluster.”

“In truth, it has no effect. The best thing to do would be to try to talk, to create a space for dialogue with the federal government or future representatives of the federal government, to try to establish a constructive agenda with the United States,” he told The Canadian Press.

He pointed out that adding customs fees for exporting energy to the United States could lead to legal battles “if we suddenly change the contract,” and bring about losses for Hydro-Quebec.

“Creating a tariff doesn’t depend on a political party, and it doesn’t depend on the province of Quebec. That would be a federal issue,” he said.

Kraft says he believes it is necessary to observe what Trump will do once he takes office.

“I’m sure that, when Mr. Trump becomes president, reality will present itself differently, quite differently, because he can say anything at the moment. But from the moment he takes office, there are rules to follow,” he said, citing the rules set out in the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUMA) and those of the World Trade Organisation.

-- with files from The Canadian Press.