The surcharge proposed by Québec solidaire on ultra-polluting vehicles has the outgoing Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, fearing a wave of protest from the government similar to the yellow vest movement of 2018-2019 in France.
Posted yesterday at 6:58 p.m.
Candidates from four of the five main parties lent themselves Monday to a debate on the theme of the “green economy” in Montreal.
If the debate began on a rather consensual tone, it rose during an exchange between Benoit Charette and the president and candidate of Québec solidaire (QS) in the riding of Verdun, Alejandra Zaga-Mendez, about the proposed surtax by the left-wing party on “ultra-polluting” vehicles.
“The great danger is to create an aversion to mobilization. We must mobilize the population and not turn it against us in this unavoidable debate on the fight against climate change”, then launched the candidate of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), giving as an example the movement of yellow vests in France.
In the fall of 2018, a new fuel tax which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions provoked this vast protest movement in France. This had gained momentum and led to violent demonstrations, in addition to inspiring several similar movements in other countries.
However, only vehicles emitting more than 210 grams of CO2 per kilometer are affected by the measure proposed by QS, replied Alejandra Zaga-Mendez, doctoral student in environmental economics.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Alejandra Zaga-Mendez, president and candidate of Québec solidaire in the riding of Verdun
“We are not attacking the majority, it is not a tax at the pump, what we are proposing. This is a measure that already exists elsewhere and which is a counter-incentive for ultra-polluting vehicles with exemptions that have been explained, for large families, for work and regionally, ”she added after debate.
Another skirmish took place when the Parti Québécois candidate in Taschereau, Jeanne Robin, criticized the CAQ for giving priority to road projects over other infrastructure in order to help Quebec facing the challenges of climate change.
“Instead of putting our energy into putting in place infrastructures that would get us out of two crises at once, the pandemic crisis […] and the climate crisis, we continued to do what we have always done, road projects, because it is simpler, we are doing them in all regions and that is what we have always done,” said she lamented.
To which Benoit Charette replied that it was a question of “saving human lives” by reviewing the configuration of certain roads, in particular Highway 50 and Route 117.
The candidate for the Liberal Party of Quebec, Virginie Dufour, replaced at short notice the candidate in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Désirée McGraw, who had to cancel her presence for family reasons. Mme Dufour has repeatedly put forward the “ECO project” of its leader, Dominique Anglade,
The Conservative Party of Quebec had decided not to delegate a candidate to the debate. The event was organized by the Environment Network, the Council of Environmental Technology Companies of Quebec (CETEQ) and the Quebec Association for the Production of Renewable Energy (AQPER), in Montreal.