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Quebec won't give up on trying to sell hydro power to Ontario: minister

It's a delicate situation for Ontario because 18,000 workers are employed in its nuclear industry.

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Despite another rebuff from Ontario to Quebec’s offer of hydroelectric sales, the Legault government isn’t giving up on trying to make that province a customer, reckoning that in the end, simple pragmatism will win out.

Jonatan Julien, Quebec’s energy and natural resources minister, told reporters on Thursday that the sale of surplus electricity to Ontario is a “mid- to long-term” undertaking.

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Julien was in Montreal with Hydro-Québec director Éric Martel to inaugurate the  Chamouchouane-Bout-de-l’Île power line, which links Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean to the Montreal region and is a project that was completed below its $1.3-billion budget.

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On Wednesday during a meeting of provincial premiers at the Council of the Federation in Saskatoon, Ontario spurned an offer of energy sales from Quebec, the latter province arguing its hydro-generated electricity could replace Ontario’s costly nuclear power plant network.

It’s a delicate situation for Ontario because 18,000 workers are employed in its nuclear industry.

But Julien and Martel were not surprised by Ontario’s latest refusal, noting that the province at the moment has a power surplus of its own. However, they think the government of Doug Ford may change its position once the renovations of its 19 nuclear reactors has begun.

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