(Montreal) The ultimatum issued in Quebec by the federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, on the protection of the woodland caribou would be a sign that Ottawa’s patience has its limits towards the provinces which do not assume their responsibility to protect wildlife, believe environmentalists.
Posted at 9:44 a.m.
Rachel Plotkin, a caribou specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation, felt that Minister Guilbeault’s threat to unilaterally protect the species’ habitat on Quebec territory to save declining populations is a warning shot aimed at demonstrating that Ottawa is ready to take the hard line after years of neglect.
“As an activist who was hired to try to strengthen the tools of the Species at Risk Act, I am very happy to see that a minister finally seems to have the will to use them,” said she said in a recent interview.
Mme Plotkin pointed out that the federal government asked the provinces to develop a strategy to protect critical caribou habitat in 2012. However, she added, Ottawa has always been reluctant to compel them to act, even if the populations continued to decline.
It shows that the federal government is tired of waiting for the provinces to do the right thing [et que] his patience has reached its limit.
Rachel Plotkin, caribou specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation
In a letter dated April 8, Minister Guilbeault gave the Quebec government until April 20 to inform him of his caribou and habitat protection plan. If the plan is deemed insufficient, Guilbeault said he will recommend that the cabinet issue an order protecting parts of animal habitat on Quebec territory, regardless of the province’s objections.
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, REUTERS
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault
Speaking north of Montreal on Thursday, Guilbeault said that although Ottawa recently reached an agreement with Alberta on a protection plan and is negotiating with British Columbia and Ontario, “unfortunately, it seems be little will on the part of the Government of Quebec to find land. »
He stressed that he still hoped to reach an agreement with Quebec that would avoid the need for an order in council.
Jeremy Kerr, a biology professor at the University of Ottawa, said Guilbeault’s decision was “a stark reminder that provincial environment ministries actually have to take responsibility.”
He said the federal environment minister would not take lightly the decision to impose Ottawa’s will on a province — especially the province that most vehemently opposes federal interference.
If the federal minister is ready to enter into this kind of potentially contentious situation with Quebec, then the minister is ready to do it potentially anywhere.
Jeremy Kerr, professor of biology at the University of Ottawa
Anne-Sophie Doré, a lawyer at the Center québécois du droit de l’environnement, explained that Ottawa had issued emergency orders to ward off immediate threats to a species, including halting construction projects in southern Quebec. to protect the Western Chorus Frog. But the action envisaged by Minister Guilbeault has not been taken before, according to Ms.me Golden.
Unlike emergency orders, an executive order would protect “habitats in their entirety” and could last for five years, she said. The Species at Risk Act, she added, provides penalties for non-compliance with the order, adding that Quebec may try to challenge them in court.
Mr. Guilbeault said Thursday that the protection order would cover about 35,000 square kilometers in Quebec. Not all of the territory should necessarily be left untouched, he said, but “additional measures” should be put in place to ensure caribou survival.
According to Mr. Kerr, the decree could contain a number of different elements, “ranging from a cessation of land use activities that threaten the survival of caribou in these areas, to some sort of requirement that the management of these areas is very different from what it is today. »
He said countless research has shown that caribou need thick, old-growth forests that provide a food source and protection from predators.
But governments have been reluctant to reduce industrial activities such as logging, which has replaced old trees with younger ones and created trails that give predators easy access to caribou prey. In order to protect the cervid, there is no doubt that industrial work on their territory should be drastically reduced, according to Mr. Kerr.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday that Guilbeault’s ultimatum is another example of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government interfering in areas of provincial jurisdiction. Quebec, he said, has an independent caribou protection commission that seeks to strike a balance with “protecting jobs that are important in certain regions of Quebec.”
But Mr. Kerr, Mme Plotkin and M.me Doré all said that successive Quebec governments have shown they are unwilling to take meaningful action unless their hand is forced.
“The status quo cannot continue if we are to have a future where wildlife survives and recovers,” concluded Ms.me Plotkin. Hopefully this federal wake-up call will prompt those changes. »
With information from Stéphane Blais in Saint-Jérôme