Faced with a new ultimatum of Ottawa to save the forest and mountain caribou, the Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, says he is “confident” of finally being able to submit his protection strategy. However, it will have to take into account the “60,000 jobs” in forestry offered across Quebec.
The CAQ elected official took note, on Tuesday, of the letter sent to him by his federal counterpart, Steven Guilbeault, last week. In the missive, the Liberal minister urges François Legault’s government to submit its strategy, which has been postponed many times, by May 1. Promised for years, the plan was to be presented in June 2023 before summer forest fires force Quebec to return to the drawing board.
“I am very concerned about these additional delays given the extremely precarious situation of this species,” Steven Guilbeault wrote last week.
Questioned on Tuesday, Benoit Charette assured that “it is work which continues, which advances”, but which is “extremely, extremely complex”. “We cannot minimize the complexity of the case. I have 60,000 jobs, essentially, in Quebec which are linked to forestry,” recalled the Minister of the Environment, who is also responsible for wildlife protection.
To a journalist who asked him if he would be able to meet Ottawa’s deadlines, the elected official said he was “confident that we will be able to move forward on the file in the coming weeks”, but reminded Mr. Guilbeault that it was necessary to consider the “balance” between jobs and the protection of caribou in the four corners of Quebec. “It’s normal that he [M. Guilbeault] wishes to enforce its law. And it is normal that, on the Quebec side, we can say to him: “Be careful of the impacts that a strict and blind application of this law could have,” maintained Mr. Charette.
Last December, Minister Charette announced that his strategy would come sometime in January 2024. This is the latest postponement in a long series of postponements dating back to 2019.
Further details will follow.