The Liberal Party of Quebec wants to improve its climate targets: this weekend it will propose reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs) of 40% to 45% in 2030 compared to the 1990 level, has learned The duty.
The party, which until now had the same target as the Quebec government – a 37.5% reduction in GHGs in 2030 compared to 1990 – intends to put this proposal to play at its members’ congress, which opens. this Friday.
By suggesting a decrease from 40% to 45%, the PLQ aligns itself with the commitment made last April by the federal government. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals said at the time that it was “the most ambitious target possible”.
Dominique Anglade’s troops are also advancing a number that is between the government target and that, of 55%, adopted in congress by Quebec solidaire (QS) last weekend.
Interviewed at To have to, Mme Anglade argued that the proposed target would be “at least 37.5%”. A trusted source then confirmed that the proposal submitted to activists would be 40% to 45%. “But the objective of the weekend is not so much the target as how we will achieve it,” said the liberal leader. “What I’m going to present, first and foremost, is really how to do it. “
In his opinion, “the objective of the congress is not to say: ‘here is the number, and that’s it’”. What the Liberals want to demonstrate, “is that we have a game plan to combine the economy and the environment,” she said.
A year and a half after his arrival at the head of the party, Mr.me Anglade insists that “the number one issue” is climate change. “We often talk about the economy party. It is so reductive because fundamentally, the Liberal Party is the party of major transformations, first and foremost, ”she said.
The government target of 37.5% is already “extremely ambitious,” Environment Minister Benoit Charette said on Wednesday. In 2018, Quebec had reduced its total emissions by 6% since 1990. As the 2019 report – expected in the coming weeks – approaches, Minister Charrette called on the oppositions to show pragmatism, saying that “the march is excessively high ”. Over the weekend, several senior officials in François Legault’s government mocked the 55% target proposed by QS.
A first congress in four years
For the first time since 2017, hundreds of PLQ activists will converge on Quebec this weekend to debate the resolutions proposed by the party’s political committee. The party is going through a difficult period: it attracts only 9% of Francophones according to polls, it has been going through a crisis since the exclusion of Marie Montpetit and it must resume contact with its activists, many of whom have felt neglected during the reign of Philippe Couillard.
In this context, Mme Anglade said he felt “more than pressure” to integrate the activists’ proposals into his electoral platform. “It’s a commitment on my part. […] As a chef, I must be imbued with the spirit of the proposals presented, ”she said.
Among the proposals that will be studied, there is one which aims to broaden health insurance coverage to include “in particular psychotherapy, physiotherapy, dental, eye and hearing care”. “It’s very broad,” agrees the leader of the official opposition, noting all the same that the Liberals have already proposed universal public access to psychotherapy.
Liberal activists also want to debate the possibility of allowing parents of children under five or with disabilities “to work four days a week at the expense of the employee without fear of reprisals from his employer.” They also propose to support “the demands of English-speaking Quebecers regarding the protection of the independence and autonomy of English-language school boards”.
Remember that the English Montreal School Board defends the “exclusive right” of the English-speaking minority in Quebec “to manage and control [ses] schools ”, in the context of the challenge to the Law on the secularism of the State.