In the midst of the woodland caribou saga, the elected members of the National Assembly are considering the possibility of granting Quebec legal protection against federal interventions that could negatively affect the environment.
Thanks to a rare opposition bill under study, the Quebec state could ensure that “no provision of a law” or an enforceable act originating in Ottawa can override environmental laws. adopted by the National Assembly. The legislative text, tabled by Parti Québécois MNA Sylvain Gaudreault, aims to “grant [r] a priority of application to the rules arising from the legislative and constitutional jurisdiction of Quebec”.
The bill “to amend the Environment Quality Act to affirm the primacy of Quebec’s jurisdiction in this matter” provides in particular for the establishment of a mechanism allowing the government to choose the projects on which it would have exclusive jurisdiction over the environment. Tuesday evening, the elected members of the Quebec parliament – those of the government of François Legault included – voted in favor of the principle of the PQ bill, which leaves time to adopt it by the end of the parliamentary session.
“It would give Quebec a kind of right of veto,” summed up Mr. Gaudreault in an interview with The duty Wednesday.
Realistic?
It is more than rare for a majority government to support a bill tabled by the Opposition in this way. However, on Wednesday, the Quebec deputies all supported a motion opposing “any intervention by the federal government in terms of the environment on Quebec territory”. According to Mr. Gaudreault, the CAQ government has a favorable bias towards his idea.
“I continue to have hope. It is a bill that does not have many clauses. But at the same time, I am realistic about the government’s intention to give the opposition a win, ”he said on the other end of the line on Wednesday.
At the very moment when the Quebec Parliament is deciding on its “environmental sovereignty”, the federal government is evaluating the possibility of using an emergency decree to protect woodland caribou on Quebec territory. If he says leaning towards better protection of animals, Sylvain Gaudreault maintains that it is the Quebec government that must decide. Passing a law recognizing Quebec’s “environmental primacy” would give the state the tools to reject such intervention, he said.
“It’s much better to have a single government responsible for the file. imagine if [le conservateur] Pierre Poilievre becomes Prime Minister, we have no more guarantees of respect for the environment by the federal government. It is a bogus insurance policy,” he observed.