Canadian Speaker, Montoucet discuss partnering colleges

This past week District 42 Representative Jack Montoucet and his wife Sandra hosted the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Speaker Dan D’autremont and his companion, Judy White, during their visit to south Louisiana.

The visit was part vacation for D’autremont as he and White got to tour several area attractions such as The Grand Opera House of the South. And it was part work as Montoucet and D’autremont got to discuss a joint venture with the University of Louisiana Lafayette and the University of Saskatchewan.

Montoucet met D’autremont at a French speaking legislators convention recently. 

“The University of Saskatchewan does a lot of research in the field of carbon dioxide recovery,” said Montoucet during a Friday interview. “I’ve heard a lot about it and it’s an interesting technology.” 

What the technology could also be is a tremendous boost to the economy of south Louisiana. 

“When an oil well is drilled, normally there is about a third of the oil that is left in the well,” said Montoucet. “What carbon dioxide can do when it is injected into a well is cause the oil to rise to the surface. I thought that together with what we are trying to do with our biofuels facility it would be a nice fit.” 

During D’autremont and White’s visit to Crowley, they also toured several historic areas of the city. They seemed to take particular interest in the opera house as Crowley businessman L.J. Gielen took them around the building, which was initially opened by David Lyons in 1901. 

White seemed to be quite interested in some of the ghost stories Gielen told her about the opera house.

“It’s a really beautiful building but I don’t think I’d like to be here by myself,” she joked.