Mr. Premier of Quebec, you are no doubt familiar with the conservation file for Mount Kaaikop located in the MRC des Laurentides, because we have been present in the media sphere for almost 10 years!
I respectfully remind you who we are and what we want to protect:
- we have been a militant coalition since April 2013, in order to preserve an important island of public forests in southern Quebec;
- our territory is 40.5 km2 and is mostly made up of ancient forests, where there are many old trees, many of which are over 200 years old;
- these are high altitude forests, the second massif in the Laurentians, which have been little altered and which have been preserved over time;
- the regional political environment fully supports our project, as do more than 12,000 people from 93 municipalities in Quebec, not to mention many local and national environmental protection organizations;
- our project is both economical and environmental. Economic, because there are important recreational tourism activities in a well-defined sector of the territory. And environmental, because this territory, in addition to sheltering a rich biodiversity, is a real roundabout for the circulation of this biodiversity;
- our territory has a strategic ecological role, because it is mostly surrounded by private forests subject to development pressures and it guarantees them a continuous supply of biodiversity;
- it is also an important refuge for biodiversity, which has less and less room to survive and reproduce, especially large fauna;
- a lot of money has been invested by the community with a view to preserving Mount Kaaikop. More than $700,000 over the past 10 years, i.e. $500,000 in voluntary time from the permanent members of the Coalition (t/h of $25), $100,000 in various studies (environmental, economic and social) and $80,000 in legal fees;
- the studies carried out to date have proven the profitability of preserving this territory, as well as the significant ecological wealth found there;
- a research base is gradually being set up on our territory, because jointly with our Coalition, several other university research projects are currently taking place there on the ancient forests.
Our project is not a threat to the forest industry. It has practically no impact on the possibilities of forest harvesting. Indeed, the protected area targeted for Mount Kaaikop is 40.5 km2a dust compared to the area of the Laurentians (20,472 km2) and the same for the area of the Laurentian forest management units (2485 km2).
The fruit is ripe, Prime Minister, to obtain conservation status for Mount Kaaikop. Why is it taking so long in Quebec — 10 years in our case — despite proven scientific facts and a clearly affirmed citizen and regional political will?
This slowness that prevails for southern Quebec is troubling in the face of the global climate challenge where humanity must act quickly, regardless of where on our planet.
Obviously, we are campaigning in this letter for our territory, Mount Kaaikop. But there are other communities that carry out important ecological projects, as well as on the social level, in particular the Coalition Minerva for the protected area Marie-Lefranc sector in the Laurentians and Éco-corridor Kaaikop-Ouareau for the Ouareau Forest protected area in Lanaudière.
As part of the work of COP15 in Montreal on biodiversity, which begins on December 7, your government could make an important gesture in the fight against the accelerated collapse of biodiversity, by announcing the creation of several additional protected areas in the southern Quebec.
Prime Minister, I may be dreaming. But when I think of my many grandchildren and the generations that will follow us, I really dare to believe that it is what your government is currently planning that will change things. It would be a beautiful intergenerational legacy to make these decisions now, in order to seek to ensure a viable world for them.