While the Bloc Québécois hopes to obtain concessions by ensuring the survival of the Trudeau government for a time, there is no question of selling off the decree on the forest caribou in Quebec at the negotiating table, says Minister Steven Guilbeault.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change simply answered “no” on Wednesday when questioned by The Duty to find out if his emergency decree could become a bargaining chip in the expected negotiations between his party and the Bloc Québécois.
“There were no negotiations with the leader of the Bloc Québécois on this issue,” Mr. Guilbeault later assured during a tense exchange with Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus in the context of a parliamentary committee.
The two men spoke for “a few minutes” in June, not to negotiate, but to provide “clarifications” on the emergency decree announced in June to protect the critical habitat of three of Quebec’s thirteen forest-dwelling caribou populations.
The Bloc Québécois announced Wednesday that it will vote against a motion of censure proposed by the Conservatives, and thus avoid new elections as early as next week. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was hoping that the caribou issue would be enough to convince the Bloc to join his attempt to bring down the Trudeau government.
No choice, says the minister
The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois are joining the Quebec government’s request to abandon the idea of a federal decree, the final form of which should be known “in the coming weeks.” Consultations on this decree have just ended.
Bloc Québécois MP Mario Simard agreed that he agrees with the minister on one thing: “We have to find a way to save the caribou.” However, according to him, it is not certain that such an emergency decree will truly save the species.
” [Mais] “You are going to destroy a significant number of communities in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. You are going to starve them!” he argued before the committee on Wednesday.
Combative and very prepared, Minister Steven Guilbeault retorted that his government has a “legal obligation” to take action to save the caribou from the moment it notes its catastrophic decline. “It’s not, depending on which side I stand on: ‘I make a decree or I don’t make a decree.’ It doesn’t work like that!”
The previous government led by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives itself already issued an emergency order to protect the sage grouse, a bird that lives in Alberta.
Death of a village
Conservative elected officials from Quebec used the platform offered by the minister before the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee to paint a very dark picture of the consequences of the decree on the caribou.
“Are you aware that your decree will create a social crisis, will kill jobs,” lamented MP Richard Martel, who was emotional at times as he defended the jobs lost in the forest regions.
In particular, he acted as spokesperson for the mayor of the small village of Sacré-Coeur, in the Haute Côte-Nord, who has already stated before this committee that she fears that her village will turn into a “ghost village” following a federal decree.
Minister Guilbeault mentioned his origins, having grown up in the town of La Tuque, where the forestry industry is important. “It amazes me that your party [conservateur] has no understanding of the adequacy between the state of the forest and an industry like this,” he replied.
He qualified the preliminary federal assessments which suggested an impact as heavy as 1,400 jobs in the forestry sector. According to him, this number could vary greatly in light of the changes to come to the decree following the consultations.
“Do we need 500,000 kilometres of forest roads? And the solution proposed by the conservatives to kill the predators [du caribou] is not viable either,” argued Steven Guilbeault.
He accused the Conservatives of spreading “disinformation” and “fear-mongering” about caribou. However, he said he is “optimistic” that Quebec will change its tune and start collaborating with him, as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have already done.