The suspense did not suffocate anyone, but it is now said: the electoral campaign will be launched on Sunday. The pre-election murmur will have accompanied the song of the crickets throughout the beautiful season, and all the parties are already busy showing themselves in their best light.
After a summer marked by a series of disasters, between floods and droughts, the multiplication of heat waves, devastating fires and one of the hottest months of July ever recorded, we would have liked to believe that this would be enough to place the climate issue at the heart of the campaign. Except that we can already guess that the environment will at most be exploited by one or the other between now and October 3, sometimes to give themselves a leg up, sometimes to harm others — especially the outgoing government, which is stepping up its efforts to improve its environmental record.
Skilled at reading the prevailing mood, or anxious to protect its Achilles heel, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) hastened to praise its achievements in May. In a post published on the party’s website, entitled “The CAQ in the environment: the best record in history? “, we report (or we imagine, it is not clear) the words of a partisan who is delighted with the services rendered by his government, but admits being disappointed “in the environment, where you could force yourself more”.
With impeccable subtlety, we anticipate criticism and hasten to refute it. The CAQ has a bad reputation when it comes to the environment, everyone knows that, but think again: just look at “the facts” to dispel this ugly rumour. In reality, ladies and gentlemen, the Legault government has “probably the best environmental record in history”. But where does this unfortunate misperception come from?
Environmental neglect has been a pebble in the CAQ’s shoe since 2018. During the last election campaign, a review of the proposals of the various parties, carried out by a coalition of environmental groups, had shown that the CAQ was the party least well prepared to respond to the challenges posed by the climate crisis. On the eve of its arrival in government, the CAQ was still talking about maintaining fossil fuel subsidies and refused to commit to banning the development of new hydrocarbon exploitation projects. It was also the only party that refused to commit to protecting 10% of marine areas and 17% of land areas. The idea of an energy transition was conspicuously absent from his vocabulary, and every commitment to the environment was moderated by a nod to industry.
This lack of seriousness had been crowned by the appointment of MarieChantal Chassé as Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, who had had, during the 83 days that her ministerial mandate lasted, to defend a non-existent plan, without experience or preparation. This false start was quickly noted by Prime Minister Legault, who no doubt learned the lesson that the environment is no longer an issue as easily neglected as in the past. As proof, the outgoing government still suffers from a lack of credibility in this area, and it knows it very well.
The CAQ may boast of its exemplary record, essentially citing having adopted a plan — its Plan for a Green Economy, its electrification policy, its reform of the Green Fund — but the results are not as clear as it is claimed.
As we have already said, it is now almost certain that Quebec will miss its GHG reduction target set for 2030, i.e. by 37.5% compared to the 1990 level. The measures included in the Plan for a Green Economy are “largely insufficient” for the province to achieve this objective, indicated in June a report by the Trottier Energy Institute and Polytechnique Montreal. We could still hope to reach the target threshold in 2050, but that would be too little, much too late, if we trust the warnings formulated in the latest IPCC reports.
As for the new version of the Green Fund, we discovered major shortcomings in its governance, while sums of money were injected into programs that had not been evaluated by the Ministry of the Environment and the fight against climate change.
It is always desirable to have a plan, it will be said, but it is still necessary to carry it out seriously. Nor is it necessary to dig very far to notice the contradictory maneuvers of the Legault government. On the one hand, GNL Québec is being abandoned and the end of all hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation projects is announced. But on the other hand, we continue to tolerate the use of natural gas to meet Quebec’s energy demand. On the one hand, we talk about the REM, the electrification of transport, but on the other, we are given the fable of a third “carbon neutral” link without laughing, without mentioning that GHG emissions related to transport will not decrease never substantially without individual automobile postage.
Improvisation has given way to a perverse game of illusion. We mimic the grip, because we understand that something has changed in the spirit of the times. Except that we give with one hand to better take back with the other, and thus maintain the status quo. We say to ourselves that at least the CAQ has the honesty to clearly state its intentions: ” let’s go on. »