The marches against global warming follow one another and are not alike in Montreal.
Only a few hundred people mobilized on Saturday noon at the foot of Mount Royal to demand immediate and concrete actions for a just ecological transition.
Green scarf around the neck for some and green ribbon in their hand, the participants formed a human chain on Parc Avenue in Montreal. They then took to the streets to denounce the slowness of governments in meeting the Paris Agreement target, which is to limit the rise in the planet’s temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Fossil fuels are putting us in danger”, “Warm hearts, but not the planet” and “Global warming is the symptom. Illness is capitalism ”are some of the slogans chanted during the march which notably took Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
The event was organized by the Inter-Union Climate Network (RIC) as part of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice. The COP26 summit in Glasgow, where more than 190 world leaders meet, is taking place at the same time.
“We’re here to tell them it’s over, we have to stop negotiating. We must take action. We’re missing the mark. (…) We must move from words to deeds, ”said RIC spokesperson Anne Dionne, also vice-president of the Centrale des unions du Québec.
“The ecological transition is not just electric cars, it’s carbon credits. We have to rethink the system and the economy. We have to make sure that no one is left behind, ”she added.
The organizers say they chose Mount Royal because it represents the lungs of the Quebec metropolis.
The head of the climate-energy campaign at Greenpeace, Patrick Bonin, lamented that Quebec’s target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is “largely insufficient”.
“A target that has nothing to do with science, that is not ambitious enough. And despite all that, the government is literally missing this target with barely 50% of the measures to reach it, ”he decried in a speech to the demonstrators.
Mr. Bonin also called on all sectors such as transport, industries, buildings and agriculture to “put their shoulders to the wheel” for the energy transition.
Taking part in the mobilization, the NDP deputy in Rosemont, Alexandre Boulerice, said he did not feel any will among the Liberals of Justin Trudeau for a “radical turn”.
“For the moment, we do not see very precise commitments on financing, for example, for the energy transition for developing countries. He does not seem to have more ambition on the side of our greenhouse gas reductions. (…) Once again, it seems to be very shy, ”he told The Canadian Press.
Invest in public transport
Prime Minister François Legault announced in Glasgow a series of commitments to reduce GHG emissions. At the same time, he continues to defend the project for the third link between Quebec and Lévis, which many consider to be “going on the wrong track”.
“We don’t want more road. We want more green transport, public transport. To say that it’s green because the cars are going to be electric, it’s a bit of nonsense, ”said one of the demonstrators, Marie-Ève.
Present at the mobilization, the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, also again criticized the investment of 10 billion dollars for the construction of the motorway tunnel. “A project that will worsen traffic, fuel urban sprawl and increase pollution,” he commented.
He is calling for investments in public transit, not only in Montreal or Quebec City, but also in the regions. “All Quebecers want to participate in the ecological transition, but in order for them to change their behavior, they must be offered reliable and effective alternatives throughout the territory,” he said.
In September, several thousand demonstrators invaded downtown Montreal to denounce, first and foremost, the apathy of governments in the face of the climate crisis despite the urgent need to act.
If she finds that there is “a lot of blah blah” after the demonstrations, Mamy Diouma Sow, a secondary 4 student, finds the mobilizations important for the climate and that they can make a difference.
“It shows that we still have hope and that we’re never really going to give up. Every time we mobilize, it means that the environment needs your help. That’s kind of the message we’re sending, I think, ”said the Montrealer, who is a member of the National Council of Young Ministers of the Environment.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois believes that the gatherings of recent years have led the Legault government to talk about the environment, unlike the last election campaign.