Good afternoon, my name is Pierre-Olivier Pineau, a professor at HEC Montréal and holder of the Energy Sector Management Chair, which focuses on energy systems analysis. I'm particularly interested in understanding energy systems, particularly in North America, and I have a personal research interest in the electricity sector.
I know that the focus today is on Enbridge's Line 5. I will focus my remarks on the precedents that this decision could create in connection with the various energy infrastructures in North America.
For the sake of transparency, I would like to disclose that my chair has 10 funding partners, including Enbridge, Hydro-Québec, Boralex, among other Canadian companies. So my chair is financially supported by Enbridge. That said, my comments today are made in my personal capacity, completely independently, and from my perspective as a university professor.
It is extremely important that Canada and the United States have collaborative energy infrastructure and joint planning processes. In this case, it is very important to separate policy issues and decisions from the regulatory planning processes and the common objectives we have for our energy systems.
I find the politicization of this issue very concerning. Michigan had an election campaign in part against this pipeline. Decisions about pipelines and energy infrastructure should be made independently by regulatory agencies, based on long-term planning for energy needs in the United States and Canada, with a view to sustainable development and, of course, climate change.
We know that society must fight climate change and that we will have to electrify our economies much more in the years to come. We are facing challenges with the transmission lines that connect our two countries and even our provinces in Canada. Interprovincial and Canada–U.S. interconnections must result from decisions that follow economic and sustainable development logic, not political logic.
If the issues surrounding Enbridge's Line 5 are politicized, I am very concerned that this political influence will change the normal course of energy studies and infrastructure. That's why I really believe it's very important that Canada clearly articulate the broader interests of both countries in analyzing this infrastructure. Not in a political way, but in a regulatory and planning process that is independent of the political decisions of a governor, a governor, a prime minister, a political party, an election campaign or a promise to voters.
In this regard, it is unfortunately too often possible to polarize public opinion on some very specific issues that focus on only a small portion of global climate concerns, rather than representing them well, while energy systems have huge ramifications that make it very difficult to analyze these issues through a single project.
It's very important to establish processes that will allow us to have robust infrastructure, framed by strong regulatory processes, especially for the future and power lines between Canadian provinces and American states.
I will conclude here because I think my five minutes are up. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.