We are halfway through the Quebec election campaign. I must admit, like many Aboriginal people (only 12% voted four years ago), I have never voted in provincial elections.
Posted yesterday at 11:00 a.m.
My ballot landed in a ballot box only twice in the federal election, and again, more out of challenge to the ruling party than because I liked the multitude of promises and visions offered for our collective future. And then, the vote of an indigenous woman, what is it worth?
In short, a state difficult to describe lives in me at each election: a mixture of cynicism, a feeling of invisibility, guilt, the impression of legitimizing by my vote an imposed colonial system which has denied our existence for so long. Besides, elections are for winners. All of this means that not voting was meant to be a stance, a small gesture of revolt between me… and me, in the end. And that’s the problem with not voting.
I was used to people not talking about us, not looking at us, not having anyone like me among the candidates, things not changing from one election to the next on my scale of Richter.
And even if the geometry of the portrait is still variable according to the political parties, it seems that some of them, and consequently a part of society if democracy still works, see us now. As proof, never have there been so many Aboriginal candidates in provincial elections.
But, if I consider the exercise of my right to vote this time, it is not only for the improvement of the living conditions of the Aboriginal people, less discrimination or for better living together.
Sometimes there is something bigger than yourself and our skin color, background, social status, religion, language or culture should have nothing to do with some battles.
And our great battle to all, whether we are native Quebecers soaked in m’lasse up to the neck, newcomer filled with hope, supporter of “libarté”, Anglo, Franco, native, green with blue dots, whether we vote for the orange, light blue, dark blue, medium blue or red party, our great battle, the one that should fill the news bulletins, is for me that of the environmental cause.
However, I listen hard, between tax cuts, inflation, immigration and the contribution of millionaires, I hear very little on the subject. Admittedly, Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois have presented their climate plan. The Liberal Party directs its plan by joining ecology and economy. The Conservatives are talking about increasing the production of our hydrocarbons. I sigh. The CAQ also has a plan, even if the same momentum the party is talking about creating new roadblocks. I raise an eyebrow. It remains to be seen if all these plans hold up. A leaders’ debate focusing solely on the environment and the climate crisis could have made it possible to better judge the seriousness of each of the parties. Nothing is planned in this direction, François Legault having refused it. That’s a shame. In addition to being an opportunity to become familiar with everyone’s plans, the exercise would have made it possible to democratize the subject, to raise public awareness, to demonstrate its importance and its reality.
Because if some still doubt, the changes are there. Erosion is real in the tundra. In the Magdalen Islands too. The permafrost is melting in certain areas, such as Baie-James.
Do you remember the tornadoes in the Laurentians in June or those in Lanaudière last year? Should we remember the 56 deaths in Quebec in 2018 because of the heat? It’s all here and now.
According to Environment Canada, our country is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world: 1.7 degrees since 1948 to be exact. Quebec could have up to 20 days of temperature at 32°C or more in 2040, compared to 3 days 10 years ago.
Why do I feel like I hear so little about it in these elections?
I understand that when you have trouble closing your month because everything is more expensive, that’s what becomes the priority for people and for politicians. Really, I understand. But we have to think further. We must not forget that climate change and heat will one day limit our access to drinking water, that our food security will be threatened. The price will then be even heavier on our wallets, our health, our lives.
Three years away from climate irreversibility according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the government has a responsibility to integrate the environmental cause into all its future decisions. It is this commitment that should be made.
For now, there are still a few locusts to fill the silence of a debate that will not take place, but until when?