(Gatineau) François Legault had a message Monday for Québec solidaire (QS), which presented its climate plan the day before: “money does not grow on trees”, he launched to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. According to the head of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), “we have to be realistic” in the fight against climate change.
Posted at 5:29 p.m.
In his plan tabled on Sunday, the parliamentary leader of QS unveiled that his party would finance its climate action by planning operating expenditures of 7 billion in a first term and capital expenditures of 74 billion by 2030, including 29 billion in a first term. The objective of Mr. Nadeau-Dubois’ party is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% in 2030 compared to what they were in 1990. To date, Quebec is aiming for a reduction of 37.5%.
But if Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois judges that “it’s in the next 10 years that it’ll make or break” and that “it’s the decade of the last chance”, François Legault estimates for his part that his plan is much too expensive for Quebec’s finances.
“When I look at Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, to name him, and he tells us that he is going to invest 81 billion more, I remind you that Quebec’s debt is 190 billion, so he is telling us that he will increase Quebec’s debt by 50%,” he said in alarm on Monday.
“He’s going to have to explain to us where he’s going to get the money, by how much he’s going to raise taxes. At some point, you have to be realistic. Money doesn’t grow on trees,” he added.
Will the target be reached?
During its first mandate, the CAQ tabled a plan for a green economy that identifies half of the effort to be made in order to achieve the GHG reduction target of 37.5% by 2030.
In a press scrum on Monday, François Legault recalled that the majority of GHGs are produced in Quebec by transport and industries. At the corporate level, he said, “we are working on green steel, on green aluminum, on green hydrogen, on the battery sector. »
But “all that is not for tomorrow morning. Must be realistic! “, pleaded the chief caquiste. “There are plenty of technologies that don’t exist today, but will exist in a few years,” he promised.
François Legault must make an important speech this week on the theme of the environment. This is one of the five issues that will mark a potential second term of the CAQ, promised the CAQ leader at the start of the campaign.