Prime Minister François Legault, we would first like to congratulate you on your re-election and to congratulate all the other people elected on October 3rd. Despite the fact that the environment has occupied an unprecedented place in this electoral campaign compared to 2018, we feel the urgency to demand reinforced climate commitments in the next 100 days of the new government. Why ? Because climate change is no longer just an environmental problem: it has become an urgent economic, public safety, food security, health and social justice problem.
Call for enhanced climate action
The storms Fiona and Ian remind us once again that reality is catching up with fiction. Mr. Prime Minister, you must take stock of the scale of the costs of climate inaction and act quickly and decisively.
We hope that the government will take advantage of the upcoming UN climate conference, COP27, which will take place in Egypt in November, as well as the coming to Montreal in December of the COP15 on biodiversity, to increase the ambition in terms of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) and adapting to climate change and proposing concrete measures to protect biodiversity. Mr. Legault, you have repeatedly mentioned your desire to work with the other parties. In this sense, we are of the opinion that certain environmental measures proposed by the opposition parties could be applied immediately.
Moreover, since doctors and the health system will not be able to treat all the ailments and diseases that are created by structural conditions, whether industrial or urban, it is important to place the health of populations and the environment at the heart economic development of all regions of Quebec.
We therefore expect firm commitments within the first 100 days of your government’s mandate, and ask you to:
● create a transpartisan climate caucus with the other parties in the National Assembly;
● improve the Plan for a Green Economy so as to at least achieve Québec’s GHG reduction target for 2030, which is -37.5% (compared to 1990), and commit to adopting a more ambitious for Quebec to provide its share of the effort;
● launch the dialogue in order to agree on a Green Pact proposed by the municipalities which would improve the capacities of the cities to face climate change;
● review the Expropriation Act, as the Prime Minister has undertaken to do;
● consult civil society before the holding of COP27 and COP15 and ensure the participation of the Prime Minister in the latter;
● Begin developing a strategy to achieve at least 30% land conservation by 2030, all in concert with Indigenous peoples. We recall that safeguarding at least 50% of the earth’s surface is essential for the survival of biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change;
● set a timetable with Glencore so that the company respects, for the Horne smelter, in Rouyn-Noranda, a standard of 15 nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter (ng/m3) within a year and the Quebec standard of 3 ng/m3 within four years;
● materialize your pre-electoral commitments to revise the fee on water withdrawals by major users as well as to increase transparency on withdrawal data;
● commit to quickly implementing the intentions announced in the previous mandate in terms of land use planning (adoption of an ambitious implementation plan for the national policy adopted in June) and sustainable mobility (achieving the targets of the sustainable mobility).
The members of the Vire au vert coalition have also presented 48 proposals deemed essential to implement during this mandate. We are reaching out to the government to contribute to a prosperous Quebec that is both healthier and more ecological. The climate crisis and that of the loss of biodiversity require strong and immediate responses and unprecedented ambition.
* Co-signed this text:
Marc-André Viau, Equiterre; Patricia Clermont, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME); Charles Bonhomme, David Suzuki Foundation; Jean-François Rheault, Vélo Québec; Rébecca Pétrin, Eau Secours; Véronique Fournier, Montreal Urban Ecology Center (CEUM); André Bélanger, Rivers Foundation; Diego Creimer, CPAWS Quebec; Sandrine Cabana-Degani, Pedestrians Quebec; Anne-Céline Guyon, Nature Quebec; Elisabeth Gibeau, Common Front for Energy Transition; Emilie Campbell-Renaud, Climate Reality Project Canada; Samuel Pagé-Plouffe, Living in the City; Martin Vaillancourt, National Group of Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec (RNCREQ); Gabrielle Spenard-Bernier, Mothers at the Front; Sarah V. Doyon, Trajectory Quebec