By the end of the election campaign, the editorial team of the To have to will offer an analysis of the main commitments of political parties on themes that concern all Quebecers. Today: the environment.
Within the space of an election campaign, the planet rumbled. Heavy rains caused flooding; the hurricane Fiona blew over the Magdalen Islands with destructive gusts. Today it’s Ian that wreaks havoc in Cuba and Florida. The urgency of the fight against climate change is intruding on our daily lives. It is no longer possible to ignore it.
Fortunately, the environment has carved out a place for itself not only in the platforms of political parties, but also in the announcements and debates of recent weeks. This is progress that we must underline, and which gives hope. But under the veneer of promises, not all parties have offered the structuring and structured vision necessary to deal with the current degree of climate emergency.
In the left corner, the Parti Québécois (PQ) and Québec solidaire (QS) stand out with this encompassing and coherent outlook — validated by experts, moreover — which has the courage to make difficult strategic choices and the ambition of a Quebec Who can do better. In the centre, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) have chosen ambitious shock formulas (focus on the ECO hydrogen project for the PLQ, construction of new dams for the CAQ), but force is to admit that it is incomplete. An inconsistency like the third link in the CAQ’s game plan takes away a lot of credit from a plan for the environment. In the right corner, finally, the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) sadly stands out with proposals that would set Quebec back if they were to be implemented. In 2022, it is a real disgrace.
Apart from the PCQ, precisely, all the parties have set targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Place your bets: 37.5% for the CAQ , 45% for the PLQ, 55% for QS. The PQ is aiming for a 45% reduction, but compared to the 2010 level. These essential targets lose their luster without a detailed plan that proposes concrete means to achieve them year after year. Remember that, despite an ambition to reduce 20% between 1990 and 2010, Quebec only succeeded in reducing its GHG emissions by 2.7%. It also emits four times too many GHGs per year, with a total of 8.7 tonnes per citizen.
The transport sector (43.3%) and industries (29.4%) alone are responsible for nearly three-quarters of GHG emissions. The electrification of transport therefore carves out an imposing place in the proposals of the various parties, but the experts warn that the transfer from the gasoline-powered solo car to the electric solo car, without regard to the environmental impacts of the increase in electric fleet (construction and use of batteries), will not solve anything if we do not make it a complementary measure to others, such as a review of land use planning and our mode of transport – as Copenhagen has done , for example — or a massive use of public transport.
The head of the CAQ fired red balls, in the countryside, on the bonus-malus system proposed by QS (surcharge of 15% on more energy-consuming vehicles). He probably believes that citizens are not ready for concrete changes in their daily lives in the name of the climate emergency. This backward-looking vision of things, where scarecrows are brandished in the mode of terrible “individual sacrifice”, will not make it possible to achieve the reduction targets that we have set. We will soon have to change the political discourse and dangle the promise of gains rather than brandishing losses if we really want to give a blow for the planet.
In terms of the forgotten and the losers, we should mention the crucial sector of adaptation to climate change, which ten large municipalities in Quebec have placed on the electoral map by loudly demanding a green pact enabling them to deal with climate change. Fiona and its ravages on the Islands just reminded us of the importance of such an emergency fund? Experts estimate it at 2 billion dollars per year to prevent and also repair. Even if the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, increased by 14% the envelope devoted to adaptation to climate change in his 2022-2027 plan, the amount provided (437 million) remains limited.
The proposals put forward by the political parties would make it possible to forge a bold and ambitious vision of a green Quebec, which could carve out a place among the world leaders in the fight against climate change. The outgoing Prime Minister, François Legault, whom the polls still place as the favorite, opened the door this week to collaboration with his rivals, particularly in terms of the environment. Why not ? Certain transpartisan exercises (such as the exemplary one on medical assistance in dying) have yielded positive results. The fate of the planet is well worth a strong alliance.