The provincial elections are fast approaching and the issues are numerous: housing crisis, debt, shortage of personnel, difficulty in accessing the health care system, the list is long.
But there is one that is essential for the present and the future, and that is the environment. If we rely on the ideas that are beginning to circulate at the moment, this issue unfortunately risks being either drowned in highly touted promises, or greatly diluted.
Yet Europe is burning this summer, northern India and Pakistan experienced heat waves of 50°C in April, the latest report from the Ouranos group shows that Quebec is warming up at high speed, the IPCC report talks about he climate emergency, biodiversity is in danger: these observations and many others demonstrate that it is essential to place the environment at the center of all decisions.
In-depth reform
The essential tool to serve this cause is a true ministry of the environment, scientifically credible and politically strong, and not a ministry which serves as a screen for bad decisions and which is subject to the influence of lobbyists of all stripes in the service of individuals in the short term and without concern for the future. We therefore need an in-depth reform that allows this key ministry to influence the decisions of all the other sectors without being subjected to pressure aimed at lowering the targets and minimizing its capacity for action.
To be scientifically credible, this Ministry of the Environment must be able to rely on highly qualified personnel, made up of experts in climatology, hydrology, biology and other fields of knowledge. These experts must also have the ability to undertake essential scientific studies on the province’s major issues, and this in complete freedom of action, without being subjected to external influence.
While of course they cannot alone produce all the studies necessary to identify all the complex files, these experts must be able to commission the relevant studies from outside firms or groups, in order to then analyze the reports produced. , determine its relevance and draw conclusions allowing policies to be developed in line with the situations observed. Politics can thus be part of the process in coherence with science. The IPCC works exactly this way; the model therefore exists; all that remains is to implement it in Quebec.
Unfortunately, the current Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change seems rather managed by people from the economic milieu who seem incapable of making projections outside the framework of economic growth, which leads to short-sighted decisions where green growth becomes an empty word.
In addition to being scientifically credible, a genuine ministry of the environment must be politically capable of influencing the decisions of all other ministries. The tools for analyzing the environmental impact of each decision exist and must be used to minimize the negative repercussions as much as possible, without the intervention of lobbyists. A typical example where the Ministry of the Environment has failed in its task is the case of the implementation of dual energy in the building (Énergir and Hydro project): only the gas distributors gain from it, the environment lose a lot.
Transparency
A Ministry of the Environment that would have had all the necessary influence would have been able to propose solutions that are much more advantageous in the long term, and to impose them.
A true Ministry of the Environment must also have an important educational function and publicly present all the files and analyzes to allow the population to understand the logic of the decisions. The black box, secrets and opaque decisions can only increase citizens’ mistrust. Public debate is essential to share knowledge and achieve social acceptability. The BAPE plays an important role here that must be revalued in order to solicit more extensive citizen participation. The case of LNG. Quebec is a clear example: nearly 3,000 briefs were filed, the vast majority of which were by informed citizens wishing to get involved. An important democratic exercise.
The environmental issue must be a priority for all parties sitting in the National Assembly. Fantastic and cross-partisan work has been accomplished in the case of the law governing medical assistance in dying: this delicate subject deserves an agreement based on human values. It was a major success for all elected officials. The environment deserves the same fate, that is to say a search for consensus between all the parties, which must set aside their rigid political line to work together, taking as a starting point the impressive scientific knowledge available today. today and who should guide decisions. It is a political program for the future.
All the issues mentioned at the beginning of this text are important, but will have little weight if the climate becomes even more disrupted, if the soils continue to be impoverished, if the water from the rivers and the river carry ever-increasing quantities more toxic products. A planet where human life is made difficult can only be a planet of conflict. We all breathe the same air. The essential basis of life is not the bank account, but the wealth of nature. Its destruction will cause poverty for all humans.
Bruno Detuncq, Retired professor, Polytechnique Montréal, and member of the RVHQ