Selling it twice

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Professional protesters in Quebec complain in the media that the price of oil and gas land in British Columbia is higher. “Why didn’t the government charge more in Quebec?” they demand.

They might just as easily complain the price of a home in Chibougamau is less than in Outremont. One is remote and undeveloped while the other is a posh area in Montreal.

It’s actually worse than that. What the protesters really want to do is sell an empty lot in Chibougamau and then after a house is built, say they sold the land too low and now wish to be paid again because they heard someone in Montreal received a high price for their house.

Questerre took out land in the St Lawrence Lowlands years ago when it had no value and no one wanted it. Just as value is created by building a new house on an empty lot, we created value by performing work and convincing partners to invest. The whole idea of the agreements made by the Quebec Government was to encourage companies to take high risks to find natural gas.

We followed the rules and are working hard to form partnerships with stakeholders in the St Lawrence Lowlands. We have always solicited investment from Quebec and still do. In a nation of laws, wanting to change the rules so we pay twice for our own efforts would be unfair and arbitrary. It’s not what we signed up for.