To put it frankly, there is not much that holds water in this idea of making Quebec “master at home” in terms of the environment.
Posted yesterday at 5:00 a.m.
The idea is described in Bill 391, led by Parti Québécois MP Sylvain Gaudreault. Last week, the National Assembly unanimously adopted the principle.
It is necessary to believe that several deputies did not push the reflection until the end before registering their vote.
Yes, the Trudeau government has the unfortunate tendency of trampling on provincial jurisdictions. The reflex to tell him to mind his own business is therefore perfectly understandable.
In the case of the environment, however, it is a bad fight.
First, in the opinion of the experts, Bill 391 is flawed from a legal point of view.
Then, for the protection of the environment, it would lead to major setbacks.
Finally, from a political point of view, it has the odd effect of directing the blame on the federal government in an issue where it is the provincial government that is at fault: that of woodland caribou.
Bill 391 was dreamed up when Stephen Harper was trying to impose the Energy East pipeline on Quebec. It aims to affirm Quebec’s “primacy” in matters of the environment, currently a jurisdiction shared between the provincial and the federal government.
Constitutionalist Benoît Pelletier, who is in favor of decentralization of powers in Canada, judges that the bill “does not hold up”. He sees five major pitfalls in the barely three-page document, including the fact that Quebec cannot decide unilaterally that its laws take precedence over federal laws.
Beyond the legal mechanics, it is the very spirit of the bill that is wrong.
In an interview, Sylvain Gaudreault told us that he believes that the environment should be under provincial jurisdiction since natural resources are too. It’s reductive.
Today, we want the environmental dimension to be considered in as many fields of activity as possible. Freight transportation, fisheries, aboriginal issues, and air transportation are examples of federal jurisdictions where environmental issues are key.
The reality is also that the pollution doesn’t stop at the signs that say “Welcome to Ontario” on Highway 401. Last year, the Trudeau government argued in the Supreme Court that it should put a price on carbon across the country in the “national interest”. He won, and that’s good.
If Quebec gains full jurisdiction over the environment, other provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta, will want to do the same. This would take away almost all leverage to curb emissions from the oil sector and give Canada a chance to meet its climate targets.
Finally, let’s talk about woodland caribou. By a coincidence that does not lack irony, the “principle” of Bill 391 was adopted the same day that the federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, announced his intention to intervene in Quebec to save this species. , a collateral victim of logging.
This gives the impression that the unanimous vote in the National Assembly is a request for the federal government to stay away from the file. Politically, this is problematic. Because the responsibility for caribou decline is provincial, not federal.
Quebec had all the leeway in the world to intervene to protect the woodland caribou. He preferred inaction and denial. Steven Guilbeault does not intervene out of pleasure. He does it because the law requires him to, as a means of last resort.
Denouncing this safety net can be used to make political mileage. But caribou need action, not provincial-federal chicanery.
For now, it is only the “principle” of Bill 391 that has been adopted by the National Assembly. However, it is difficult to see how it could go further and lead to a real law. Because the case appears to be a simple and clumsy attempt at political assertion.