New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs (Photo: Danielle McCreadie)
Premier Blaine Higgs spoke about oil, gas and pipelines during a keynote speech at Port Days in Saint John Tuesday.
He says he’s frustrated so many great oil projects seem to stop in Quebec and not move through to the Maritimes.
He’s worried that means New Brunswick won’t have a place in plans for a national energy corridor, and is asking for other provinces to support the idea.
“I feel like a stranded asset here in New Brunswick, so I made allies with the Premier of Ontario, and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, because we are looking at a national system, not unlike what the railway was years ago. It went from coast to coast. It didn’t stop in Quebec,” he said during his speech.
Higgs will be meeting with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on Friday in Saint John, and hopes to make him an ally as well.
The future of oil and gas also took centre stage.
Higgs used Norway as an example of an energy leader, where electric vehicles are subsidized by the government and over half of new car purchases are electric.
“How is Norway able to do that? They have maximized their oil and gas industry for generations, because they know they’re non-renewable resources, but they didn’t squander it like we’ve been doing here in our country,” he said.
He thinks Canada needs to take better advantage of oil and gas resources before making big changes.
Higgs says the oil and gas sector is needed to help drive innovation for the future of energy, and help support greener options like wind, hydro and solar.
“Here we are in the last phases of an oil and gas industry, and we have an opportunity to use that revenue to really drive innovation, go the next step with electrical storage, with ideas that allow wind and renewables to be practical.”
Higgs doesn’t think Canada will be using fossil fuels forever, but that they can help set the stage for a renewable future.
