Business leaders urge Quebec to leverage its energy

Business leaders urge Quebec to leverage its energy

With U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs just days away from possibly coming into effect, Quebec industry experts are bracing for what they call a threat to the province’s economy.

At a press conference Monday, the Alliance pour la compétitivité énergétique du Québec (ACEQ) – which represents several industrial consumers in the province – raised concerns over the potential 25 per cent tariff on everything exported from Canada to the U.S. starting Feb. 1.

“There’s a threat knocking at our door,” said Jean Simard, the president and CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada (AAC).

“We have to make sure here in Quebec that the leverage that we have with energy costs is used to the benefit of our economy as a whole through using it competitively priced with industrial sectors.”

Members of the Alliance pour la compétitivité énergétique du Québec (ACEQ) hold a press conference in Montreal Jan. 25, 2025. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)

The alliance is calling on the government to review Bill 69, its energy reform, which looks to modernize the energy sector and includes increases in electricity rates.

“It’s important now to make sure the government understands that the energy, the power bill that industrial customers do pay is up to 70 per cent of their cost of production,” explained Jocelyn B. Allard, president of the Quebec Association of Industrial Electricity Consumers (AQCIE).

“So it is the main competitive advantage that our plans do have in Quebec versus our competitors, which are mostly in the United States, where energy prices have been down in the last few years.”

The alliance wants to see measures like not indexing to inflation the heritage part of industrial electricity rates, and setting power rates based on real costs to Hydro-Québec.

“Some regions are built around the manufacturing sector,” said Julie White, the president and CEO of Manufacturers and Exporters of Quebec (MEQ).

“If a business closes, it’s all the village around, all the services around that are going to be affected. So that’s why we need to look at the business environment in Quebec and look at electricity rates as one of the solutions to help these businesses.”

The American, Quebec and Canadian flags fly outside a downtown Montreal building Jan. 27, 2025. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)

The office of Quebec Energy Minister Christine Fréchette told CityNews: “Bill 69 is essential for Quebec’s energy future and we will begin its study in committee soon.

“It is important to take into account the new context that could result from the decisions of the American administration, as well as their potential impacts on Quebec businesses and industries.”

White says under these circumstances, the Quebec government should focus on “what they can control. And electricity rates is something that they can control.”

Members of the Alliance pour la compétitivité énergétique du Québec (ACEQ) hold a press conference in Montreal Jan. 25, 2025. (Martin Daigle, CityNews)

The alliance says the consequences surrounding the looming threat of U.S. tariffs is already being felt.

“Right now we have businesses looking to relocate their production to the U.S.,” White said. “That’s the main answer that we had for now. We have people looking at investments, either stopping them or postponing them. We also have people looking at jobs – either hiring freezes or job losses.”

“We have to protect what we have, our interests as an economy, as a nation,” added Simard. “And the first thing we have to do is to look at what we have that gives us a competitive advantage in Quebec You don’t have to look for days and days (for) one thing that gives us a competitive advantage, and it’s energy. It’s competitively priced renewable energy called hydroelectricity.”

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