Quebec is seriously lagging behind in terms of sustainable development and the Legault government hopes to remedy this with the help of a new strategy that is supposed to extend “into all spheres of intervention” of the State. However, this comes more than two years late, without an assessment of the previous strategy and in a context of hasty consultations, criticize the groups which will parade in parliamentary committee over the next few days.
From the start of consultations on the draft “Government Strategy for Sustainable Development 2023-2028” on Tuesday, the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, acknowledged that it is “late”, while attributing this delay to impacts of the pandemic and delays attributable to the provincial election campaign.
“We are late, but it is never too late to do well”, he added, insisting on the need to “improve” the strategy, which will be the third implementation since 2008 and which should normally be ready as early as 2020. According to what Quebec specifies in its “consultation document”, this roadmap must make it possible to “make Quebec a more just and prosperous society, guaranteeing all Quebecers a healthy and safe living environment as well as as a protected natural and cultural heritage”. To achieve this, the state must “integrate the search for sustainable development into all spheres of government intervention”.
However, this vast program is now experiencing multiple delays. The consultation document thus notes that the “circularity index” of the Quebec economy is estimated at only 3.5%. “This result demonstrates that the majority of the 271.1 million tonnes of resources consumed are not reintroduced into the production system and are therefore wasted,” the document states.
What’s more, barely 14.2% of companies “are committed to a sustainable development approach based on green environmental, social and economic business practices”. This proportion drops to 4.8% “if we add accountability, which indicates that companies are slow to include practices relating to sustainable development in their performance monitoring system”.
In terms of development, the official data cited prior to the ongoing consultations show a marked increase in the loss of natural environments, to the benefit of urban sprawl, a rapid increase in the number of vehicles in circulation and a still high production of waste.
To change the situation, the Legault government promises to develop the “green and responsible economy”, to “create an exemplary state” in this area, to “act for nature and for health” and to focus on sustainable communities. . Each of these orientations is linked to more specific objectives.
Deadlines too short
The problem is that the government wants the new strategy to come into force in April, while the results of the previous strategy are still not available, lamented on Tuesday the G15+ collective, which brings together around fifteen groups from the business and civil society.
“It would have been very useful to have this data,” said Denis Bolduc, Secretary General of the Quebec Federation of Labor, during the consultations. He recalled that the Commissioner for Sustainable Development has, in his reports, shown that the strategies implemented since 2008 have not worked, in particular because of the “lack of accountability and commitment of the departments and agencies”.
The latter also criticized the hasty nature of the approach for the 2023-2028 strategy. “The entry into force of the Strategy is scheduled for April. This is a period that we consider very short to allow the government to integrate into its strategy the testimony that will be heard during the consultations,” said Mr. Bolduc. The time between consultations and the implementation of the previous strategy was four times longer, specifies the G15+.
Same story on the side of Équiterre and Nature Québec, which were convened a few days ago. But Benoit Charette’s cabinet refuses to act in haste. “The duration of the consultations that will be held is similar to those held five years ago during the revision of the previous strategy,” it was argued in a written response.
The organizations invited to the committee hope above all that the government will listen, to avoid a repetition of past failures. The G15+ thus proposes an approach to measuring “well-being” which would take into account “indicators” of prosperity, but also of equity, consumption of resources and protection of the environment. In short, who would measure progress by going “beyond GDP”.