This text is part of the special Energies section
More and more municipalities want to impose a decarbonization of buildings, which are responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Quebec. A recent report shows that they have the power to meet this challenge.
Last April, the City of Prévost was the first in Quebec to table a proposal for a by-law aimed at abandoning the use of fossil fuels in the buildings located on its territory. In 2022, Montreal unveiled a roadmap that should lead to the adoption of such a regulation. Municipalities such as Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Otterburn Park, Petit-Saguenay and Saint-Cuthbert have also presented resolutions on this subject, and many others should soon follow suit.
Although they are often reduced a little too quickly to the simple rank of “creatures of the provincial government”, the municipalities have the competence to act on the environment, indicates a report by the Center québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE), published in the fall of 2022. This competence is based in particular on the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “the level of government best placed to act should be the one which adopts and implements a law or regulation”.
“The level of government that is closest to an issue and whose action is the most effective is considered to be the best placed to act,” says lawyer Camille Cloutier, coordinator of the Green Line and the clinic. of the CQDE. This principle was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2001. The Court invoked it to validate a by-law of the Town of Hudson which limited the use of pesticides. In 2006, the Sustainable Development Act adopted in Quebec also supported this principle.
The Municipal Powers Act of 2005 also explicitly names the environment among the areas in which these entities can intervene. The term is not defined in a restrictive manner and can cover fields as diverse as water supply, sewers and water purification, management of residual materials, etc.
The Act recognizes that “any local municipality may adopt by-laws relating to the environment”, as well as by-laws to ensure the general well-being of its population. Cities also have skills in planning and urban planning.
“Municipalities therefore have the power to regulate the use of natural gas in buildings, provided that these regulations are compatible with provincial laws,” concludes Ms.e Cloutier.
Close the gas tap
Last April, around fifteen organizations announced the creation of the Sortons le gaz! coalition, whose objective is to accelerate the abandonment of fossil gas in buildings. The coalition invites citizens to write to their municipal council to ask them to quickly adopt a regulation that goes in this direction.
“These groups have a long history of working together to popularize and raise awareness of the environmental, health and financial risks of gas,” explains Patrick Bonin, Climate-Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, who is a member of the coalition.
Currently, natural gas is found in more than 200,000 buildings in Quebec, according to Équiterre. It provides approximately 15% of the energy consumed by residential, commercial and institutional buildings and is responsible for 63% of the GHGs emitted by the buildings sector.
The move towards decarbonizing buildings has alarmed Hydro-Quebec. The state-owned company maintains that it would struggle to meet demand, especially during peak periods, even if it were limited to prohibiting gas only in new constructions in Montreal.
An argument that raises the ire of Patrick Bonin. “It’s revolting to see that Hydro-Québec represents one of the greatest obstacles to the decarbonization of municipalities,” he laments. The only person responsible for the end of hydroelectricity surpluses in Quebec is Hydro-Quebec, which poorly anticipated the needs that the exit from fossil fuels, which we have been talking about for years, would cause. »
Rather than “scare the world”, the state company should hasten to correct its negligence, in particular by updating its transmission infrastructure, believes the activist.
For his part, M.e Camille Cloutier recalls that Hydro-Québec has a legal obligation to serve anyone who requests it on its territory, as clearly stipulated in section 76 of the Act respecting the Régie de l’énergie. Me Cloutier believes that Quebec finds itself at the time of choice and that it will have to establish the best uses for the electricity it has. “Citizens must be heard on this important issue,” she believes.
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