A coalition of 150 organizations is planning demonstrations in various cities across Quebec this Saturday for Earth Day. The demonstrators intend to demand more ambition from the Legault government in the fight against the climate crisis and social inequalities.
“It was the citizen mobilizations that made the CAQ bend on oil and gas exploration, on GNL Québec and on the 3rd link. We have the power to change things. The next step: a rapid and complete exit from oil and gas,” summarizes François Geoffroy, spokesperson for Workers for Climate Justice.
Quebec consumes an average of 130 million barrels of oil per year and just under 600 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, produced mainly through hydraulic fracturing.
As part of demonstrations planned for this Saturday in a dozen cities in the province, including Montreal and Quebec, some 150 organizations therefore intend to demand an acceleration of the fight against the climate crisis, but also in favor of greater social justice. “The Government of Quebec continues to push back the urgency to act and to prioritize economic development, thus strengthening an economic system that widens inequalities and destroys the planet”, criticize the organizations in their document of demands.
However, the government’s retreat from the mega-project for a tunnel dedicated to cars in the Quebec City region testifies to the need to govern “based on science and conclusive data”, underlines Albert Lalonde, of the Student Coalition for a environmental and social change (CEVES).
Climate science is also very clear, he adds: we must quickly turn our backs on fossil fuels, but also better protect biodiversity. “Accelerating the fight and adaptation to these crises is a vital issue in order to hope for a future for future generations”, also insists the call to demonstrate by the organizers of the traditional Earth Day mobilization.
Albert Lalonde, however, judges that the government of Quebec maintains a favorable bias towards economic development that is “destructive of the environment” and harmful to the protection of biodiversity. In particular, he criticizes the Legault government’s desire to build new dams on some of the last major rivers available in the province. “Instead, we should talk about energy sobriety, since we have all the tools to reduce our energy consumption,” he argues.
Social justice
Co-coordinator of the Popular Education and Community Action Movement of Quebec, Valérie Lépine, for her part, insists on the urgency of greater social justice, in a context where the most vulnerable people are also those who will be the most affected by the impacts of the climate crisis. She cites as an example the construction of affordable housing that would be better designed for an increasingly disrupted climate, but also to reduce the energy consumption of buildings.
The organizations demand in the same breath “a massive reinvestment” in public services and social programs, in particular “by taxing wealth more”. “Our social safety net does not allow us to deal with crises, whether health or climate. It is urgent to have taxation, therefore taxes and duties, which distribute wealth, ”argues the coalition, which includes environmental groups, unions, student associations and citizen groups.
According to an analysis published Tuesday by the Quebec Observatory of Inequalities, the richest Quebec households have a carbon footprint three times higher than the poorest households. The top quintile of households in Quebec, in terms of disposable income—that is, the richest 20%—has a carbon footprint of 28 tonnes of CO2 per year. Households in the bottom quintile release only 10 tons per year through consumption.