
About Mike
President & Chief Executive Officer of Questerre Energy
Michael Binnion is the President and CEO and founding shareholder of Questerre Energy, established in November 2000. Questerre is a public oil and gas production company with operations in Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Jordan. He has been a leader in the campaign for hydrocarbons in Quebec as Chairman of the Quebec Oil & Gas Association.
Mr. Binnion is a seasoned entrepreneur with a history of starting, financing and managing companies and not-for- profits. He has extensive experience as a board member for several high-tech companies in Canada. Additionally, he is the Executive Director of Rupert’s Crossing Ltd., a private merchant banking firm.
He is also Chairman of both High Arctic Energy Services and the Manning Foundation. Most recently he founded the Modern Miracle Network, an organization of Canadians wanting adult conversations about the benefits and impacts of energy use.
A fifth-generation Albertan born in Calgary, Mr. Binnion is not only passionate about entrepreneurship but also a community-minded individual concerned with the prospects for future generations of Canadians. He is the founder and chairman of the Lesley Binnion Foundation for Disabled Sports, helping hundreds of kids and families make the extraordinary achievement of learning to ski a reality.
Recycled extremism threatens greater greenhouse gas emissions
The environmental activists pushed out a national shock and awe campaign this week to try overwhelm people with a silly assertion that natural gas isn’t as clean as coal. A well publicized report by “The Global Energy Monitor” had Canadian Press, CBC and the Globe and Mail trying to tell Canadians that the world’s climate will suffer if natural gas
Please take yes for an answer
Yesterday, the Quebec Solidaire made a symbolic motion in the National Assembly supporting its policies to protect the environment from the impacts of fracking. Questerre has accepted, for some time the opposition of environmental non-governmental organizations and left-wing political parties like Quebec Solidaire, the Parti Quebecois and even more recently the Liberals. They have won. While science and experience have
Quebecers Want Local
The Montreal Economic Institute just released a poll asking Quebecers about oil. Two to one Quebecers want to develop their local oil not imports. A similar poll in June found that even higher numbers of Quebecers want to develop their own natural gas and to stop imports. Outside of the urban areas where developments actually happen, Quebecers are three to
You Broke it You Fix it
Cenovus Energy Ltd under its new leader Alex Pourbaix advanced an interesting idea that was not universally accepted. It should have been. No one would argue our energy industry is long on oil and gas supply these days, but some might say we are short on ideas about what to do about it. To solve the problem of oil and
New Government in Quebec
I have had a few queries about my thoughts are on the Quebec election. You may not have asked but here they are any way. First, it’s a convincing win for Premier elect Legault, with 38% of the popular vote in a competitive four way race. This is not far off what the federal Liberals achieved to win a three
A democratic breakdown
There may not be social acceptability for the exploitation of natural gas in Quebec. What we can be sure of, is the Government of Quebec did not meet its own standards for social acceptability by imposing a moratorium on any meaningful natural gas development in Quebec. To be sure they have left a window open for possible new discoveries, but
Two kilometers is not about the water!
The issue recently in the press relating to the distance between oil and gas wells and water wells is about something. But we can be sure it’s not about the water. The science on this is clear. The comprehensive studies have been done by scientists, in Quebec as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and also in the United
Maybe Canada’s greatest living speaker
Maybe Canada’s greatest living speaker Greatest Canadian living speaker – that’s certainly what Troy Lanigan, the President of the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, calls the Honorable Stockwell Day. He just spoke at the CEEA Midyear Update (Oilmen’s) and a sold-out room at the Petroleum Club was no evidence to the contrary. For twenty-five minutes Stockwell gave the room
How Did We Go So Wrong on Carbon Taxes?
Let me preface by saying that the greenhouse effect is real. Therefore, I am for sensible policies that reduce global emissions. Sadly, carbon taxes aren’t a sensible policy if our goal is to reduce global emissions. They cost too much and do too little. So how did we go so wrong on carbon taxes? Carbon taxation was originally a right-wing,
Conservatives Leap Climate Policy Forward
I moderated a panel of some of the conservative movement’s most knowledgeable climate policy experts at Manning last Saturday. The panel, entitled “Development and Sustainability,” featured Mark Cameron from Canadians for Clean Prosperity, The Hon. Ed Fast (Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change), Jeff Gaulin from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and David McLaughlin, the Government of Manitoba’s