The elected members of the National Assembly will soon be offered training on the climate emergency and its impacts in Quebec. It will not be mandatory, but Prime Minister François Legault intends to follow it.
The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, had the National Assembly adopt a motion on Friday to invite various organizations to “organize, as soon as possible, cross-partisan training for MPs on climate change”. This would be offered in particular by the chief scientist of Quebec, Rémi Quirion, and the organization Ouranos.
In October, the four political parties represented in the National Assembly had shown themselves open to participating in such training. However, the doubt hovered over the possibility that it be dispensed obligatorily to the 125 Quebec deputies.
After tabling his motion in the House on Friday, Minister Charette confirmed to the To have to that would not be the case. “It is certain that for a caucus of three deputies, or a dozen deputies, or twenty, it is easier than to bring together 90 deputies”, defended the elected caquist when he left the Blue Room. “I will make sure on the side of our political formation that the greatest number of people can participate. »
In the morning, Québec solidaire had insisted that the motion contain a passage obliging all Quebec elected officials to follow it, without success. The 11 elected members of the training, just like the 19 deputies of the Liberal Party and the three PQ will participate in the training, they assured Friday.
Minister Charette intends to follow her. Asked about this, the Prime Minister’s Office indicated that François Legault also intended to do so.
In a similar initiative last June, the elected members of the National Assembly had access to a presentation of the most recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to our information, about thirty deputies (less than 25% of elected officials) then took part in the event. It was not possible to obtain the precise list of elected officials present.
Early 2023?
Mr. Charette hopes to see this new training materialize quickly. “I have no indications, but I am confident that it will at least be the next session. The last time, it took a few weeks to organize it, so we can think that with a similar deadline it will take place at the beginning of the year 2023, ”he said.
In October, about twenty scientists had published in the pages of the To have to a letter requiring the Quebec Parliament to launch such an initiative with the resumption of parliamentary proceedings.
“The proposed training would first deal with the causes and consequences of climate change, with particular emphasis on Quebec. The second part of the training would address the climate change mitigation and adaptation measures available to Quebec society,” wrote these experts, some of whom represented the Ouranos organization.
Ouranos was “delighted” Friday with the unanimous adoption of the government motion. “We will participate with enthusiasm in the organization of this training […]. The General Secretariat of the National Assembly should contact us soon to discuss the parameters and timelines,” wrote the organization’s communications manager, Catherine Schick, at To have to.