Posted at 12:00 p.m.
My name is Zacharie Milot and I am a young boy of 16 who is happy in life. I have a beautiful family, a good entourage, I have a good education and I am a nature lover, just like you. Respect for the environment is one of my deepest values, because nature is simply magnificent and I find it disastrous to see all the damage it suffers.
I listened to you at Everybody talks about it Sunday, April 3. I found that you presented well the project that your officials from the Department of the Environment and you had put in place to reduce Canada’s carbon footprint. I must admit that, although I find that it is possible to do (much) more, it proposes provisions to move forward.
I also heard you talk about the Bay du Nord project. You said that you were going to offer an answer shortly to give, yes or no, your agreement to this project. My disappointment was great to see in the news that you had given your consent. You explained, and I quote, that “the Bay du Nord development project can proceed, subject to some of the most stringent environmental conditions ever imposed, including the historic requirement for an oil and gas industry to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050”.
Seriously ?
I’m still young and I sure don’t know all the data and backstage games that have been done, but I don’t see how we can extract over 300 million barrels of oil and be carbon neutral.
Seriously ?
How can you deny the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that says “cap and reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector”. Moreover, one of your arguments for putting your project in a good light is to associate it with the context of the war in Ukraine with the aim of replacing Russian oil. However, oil from Bay du Nord will not begin to be exploited until 2028.
Seriously ?
Do you really think the war will continue until then? Being an eternal optimist, I don’t think so. I am young and I hope to still be able to walk in the forest in 30 years with my family, while admiring the fauna and the tall trees. I hope to be able to canoe on unpolluted waters later. I would like to have a forest green future and not concrete gray.
You will probably never read this text, because you are too busy, and I understand that, but I wanted to at least express my point of view and that of many of my fellow citizens. I have nothing against you, Minister, but ask yourself this question, seriously: will granting the right to extract oil allow us to reduce our carbon footprint and save the planet?