Prime Minister François Legault began his opening speech yesterday in the National Assembly by evoking the “improbable destiny” of the Quebec nation for more than four centuries. He recalled the hardships experienced and the challenges faced by the population over time, to better echo his election campaign slogan. “It’s up to us to continue,” he said. Continue to what? Towards a “more prosperous, greener and prouder” Quebec.
That the “green” is thus named as a priority by the chief caquiste is already quite new. In François Legault’s very first keynote address, in 2018, the environment barely deserved a mention here and there. We therefore had the opportunity, on Wednesday, to see how the CAQ vision of the environment is articulated, during a speech-river of more than an hour.
Because before talking about the ideas put forward, we must first talk about the tone. And this tone contrasts sharply with the mythology of the “tightly woven” nation that rises to improbable challenges in the face of adversity – an image that the Prime Minister had nevertheless evoked a few minutes earlier.
There is no question for the Prime Minister, as during the worst of the pandemic, of appealing to a sense of duty and “national cohesion” to invite Quebecers to make difficult choices together when faced with an issue of unprecedented gravity. There is no question, here, of speaking of sacrifices, of changes in our lifestyles, of the “blow to be given” to protect, in this case, no longer our elders, but particularly the future of our children. .
On the contrary. The “green” vision of the CAQ could be summed up in one word: opportunity. François Legault tells us that he worked during his first mandate to demonstrate that the objectives of prosperity and pride could go hand in hand. On Wednesday, he said he wanted to prove to us that prosperity and the environment should also become inseparable.
It was then that we were listed — briefly, without going into detail, of course — what these “opportunities” could be for the Quebec economy. Basically, we are talking about green steel, green aluminum, green hydrogen. We are basically told that the price of so-called “green” materials will increase rapidly with demand and that, if we start producing them in time, there is an opportunity to enrich ourselves.
We are also told about green energy. We are told that we must build a “half-Hydro-Québec” within a “limited timeframe” – that is, add 100 terawatts to the 200 terawatts of electricity already produced by the state corporation to meet the growing demand which is explained in particular by the electrification of transport. We are therefore told of the “opportunities” that await us in wind power, in bioenergy, with the modernization of existing power plants and – yes – with the construction of brand new hydroelectric dams.
It is also mentioned that much remains to be done in terms of efficiency and “energy sobriety” in Quebec — but without insisting on this point. To detail what we want to understand by “energy sobriety” would be to open a cane of worms. It would be forcing the man of figures to look at the colossal waste for which we are all jointly responsible. We would quickly fall back into the lexical field of sacrifices, which we want to avoid absolutely here.
To those who would like to tell us that the climate crisis is of such magnitude and advancing at such a speed that only profound changes to certain aspects of our way of life can get us out of trouble — here, the Prime Minister’s gaze casts arrows to the deputies of Quebec solidaire —, François Legault answers: “You have to be ambitious, but not dogmatic. »
To be dogmatic here, we must understand that this would simply be recalling the facts stated by the IPCC experts: if we do not make a major economic shift by 2025, the Earth will warm up by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and some consequences of climate change will be irreversible. To be dogmatic would also mean comparing oneself to economies other than those of North America.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted on a statistic, and we can expect him to do the same in the months to come. Quebec, he insists, emits about half as much GHG per capita as the United States and Canada as a whole. In North America, we are “leaders”, and there is something to be proud of, he launched on Wednesday, thus tying up the theme of the environment with his hobby, that of pride.
On that, he is right. However, he knowingly forgets to place North America in its international context. The few countries that emit more GHGs per capita than Canada and the United States are mainly the Gulf oil states, such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman. Our pride would only be to do better than these States?
At nine tonnes of GHGs per capita, Quebec is doing much worse than pretty much all of Europe — while the rest of the planet, of course, produces on average a fraction of what is emitted by rich economies like our. And they want to convince us that Quebec is a “world leader” in terms of the environment? And that we can continue to be so without making any sacrifices, and even, on the contrary, by enriching ourselves all along the line?
You have to be ambitious without being dogmatic, they said. Certainly. But the dogma, here, is perhaps not what we believe. If we fail to bequeath a planet in a correct state to our children, it will be because the blinders of jovialism will have driven us straight into the wall.