Ecological groups hope that a six-month delay in public hearings will give them time to rally opposition to the Energy East pipeline.
Last week TransCanada agreed to file paperwork with Quebec's Environmental Review Board (BAPE), and so the commission postponed public hearings until October.
Eric Pineault, a sociology professor from l'Université de Montreal, is glad for the delay, saying it will give the public time to get informed about the project.
Pineault, who opposes the pipeline, published a book on Wednesday that he hopes activists will use to argue against the pipeline.
His book, Non au piege Energie Est (No to the Energy East trap), is full of arguments opposed to further tar sands development.
Pineault argues that Canadians and Quebecers should be investing in other energy technology.
"We have to look at renewables, we have to look at investing massively in these renewables," said Pineault.
"We have to wean ourselves off the oil sands rent. It doesn't mean stopping tomorrow morning everything, it means stopping the projects that expand, that create the pressure to expand the extraction."
Energy East would bring 1.1 million barrels of oil a day from Alberta and Saskatchewan through Quebec and into News Brunswick for overseas shipping.
The final report on Energy East should be delivered by the National Energy Board in March 2018.
