The year 2023 was the hottest on record. And this year, March was the tenth month in a row to break heat records. Not to mention the abnormal winter we have just experienced, or the forest fires of last summer; it is clearer than ever that the planet is burning.
We are two sisters aged 16 and 19 and, since the pandemic, we have been fully involved in the climate justice movement. Even though it’s only been a few years, it already feels like we’ve been asking for this transition for ages — and that the provincial government is going in the opposite direction.
An example
The latest example dates back to January when the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) quickly approved the preparation of the land for the mega-factory of batteries for electric vehicles of the Swedish company Northvolt. Sensitive land rich in biodiversity in Montérégie is already being destroyed for the construction of the factory. Experts believe that this goes directly against the biodiversity commitments made at COP15 in Montreal.
All this without the factory’s contribution to the decarbonization of Quebec being demonstrated. This project shows to what extent the government has misunderstood the principle of an ecological transition. Yes, we need batteries for electric vehicles to get rid of gasoline vehicles. But more than anything, we need to move away from private vehicles and invest massively in public transport. But transport companies are still waiting for adequate funding.
The “transition” of the CAQ
Despite local concerns about the project’s environmental impact and despite opposition from the neighboring Mohawk community, the government is moving forward after changing the rules to exempt Northvolt from the environmental assessment and consultation process. public hearing of the BAPE (Bureau of public hearings on the environment). This is unacceptable.
It is not up to a handful of ministers to approve a megaproject with enormous repercussions on their own. Democracy does not mean electing a government every four years and then letting it do anything — it also means including the population in important decision-making.
The CAQ’s “transition” seems like a plan for foreign multinationals, not for Quebecers. The TES Canada hydrogen project illustrates this perfectly. The company wants to build a 500 megawatt electrolyzer, the largest in the world, to supply “green” hydrogen to trucks and heavy industry. We are being asked to further encroach on biodiversity to install 140 mega wind turbines and a park of solar panels to power TES.
But “green” hydrogen is expensive and inefficient. It makes no sense to waste huge amounts of electricity to produce it, when we can directly electrify transport and heavy industry.
Why, then, a hydrogen project? Would it not actually serve to create the illusion of saving the planet while continuing the development of “ business as usual » ?
Greenwashing
Embarking on any “green” development, no matter how, in total disconnection from our real needs and without making the same effort to eliminate polluting practices, it is not a transition, it is greenwashing, or greenwashing.
As young people, it is terrifying to see how seriously the government does not take the ecological crisis. It’s as if, for Prime Minister François Legault, it was above all a business opportunity. We remain prisoners of the same objective: maximizing profit by exploiting resources, and we thus remain far from our greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets.
This Earth Day, we must get rid of old mentalities to truly move forward — that’s why we will demonstrate on Sunday, April 21 at 1 p.m. This is also why we invite you to do the same, alongside us. We will be at the statue in Mont-Royal Park with Attac-Québec, La Planète s’invite au parlement and the Choeur de la transition de Montréal.
Because enough is enough, false solutions and destructive projects without consultation! Walk with us to demand a just, democratic energy transition, by and for Quebecers!
Together, we are strong and we can move the government — we have already shown that it is possible. Our mobilizations notably contributed to the rejection of the GNL Québec project, then to the ban on new fossil fuel projects. And this, by a party which, in 2018, stated in its electoral program that it wanted “responsible exploitation of oil”.
Our movement, not just in the streets, but in all spheres of society, is too powerful to ignore. Together, we must all continue to push hard, because we desperately need a real societal debate on our energy future. And about our future altogether.
Let’s not let the government define it without us.
*With the support of the following organizations: Attac Québec; The planet invites itself to parliament; Rivières Foundation; ACEF of North Montreal; Ahuntsic-Cartierville environmental mobilization; Greenpeace Canada; The Montreal Transition Choir; Quebec Energy Vigilance Group; UNEplanète eco-citizen movement; Scientific collective on energy issues in Quebec.