(Trois-Rivières) Les élections générales seront officiellement déclenchées le dimanche 28 août, a confirmé François Legault, qui n’a pas attendu cette date pour faire campagne. Le chef caquiste promet la création d’un « Fonds bleu » pour protéger l’eau, et accuse ses adversaires de « pelleter des nuages » en environnement.
Mis à jour hier à 22h44
Les Québécois se rendront aux urnes le 3 octobre – 36 jours après le début de la campagne électorale – comme le prévoit la Loi sur les élections à date fixe. « La campagne électorale va être déclenchée officiellement le 28 août prochain […]. On August 28, it starts for real, ”says Mr. Legault in a short video posted on social networks on Tuesday.
But Mr. Legault himself had not waited for this message, broadcast at the end of the day, to campaign in Trois-Rivières and drop the gloves. He attacks the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, whom he accuses of not having a quantified plan to reduce Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“The CAQ is the party that has done the most to fight climate change. The CAQ is a pragmatic party, the only party that is capable of taking up the challenge of carbon neutrality, ”launched the CAQ leader at a press briefing. “How much will Mr. Nadeau-Dubois’ plan cost? Will he increase taxes for all Quebecers? Quebecers have the right to know what it means in concrete terms, GND’s plan to reduce GHGs by 55%,” he said.
In interview with The PressMr. Nadeau-Dubois promised a “historic mobility project” and affirmed that he would submit his green plan soon after the official start of the election campaign.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
target war
François Legault affirms for his part that his plan will cost 63 billion, by adding the sums of the Plan for a green economy and the planned long-term investments in public transport. However, the CAQ has only determined and financed 51% “of the actions to be taken to achieve the target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030”. Its target of -37.5% compared to the reference year 1990 in 2030 is also lower than those of the Liberal Party, the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire.
François Legault believes, however, that without costed plans, political parties are only “shoveling clouds”.
As for the promise of a “Blue Fund”, François Legault explains its usefulness by making a series of depressing observations on the quality and quantity of our water reserves.
- “Municipalities are increasingly experiencing water shortages”, due to climatic conditions that affect the availability of underground sources;
- The portrait of contaminants in the wastewater of the main cities of Quebec is not complete;
- The lakes are threatened by “exotic aquatic plants, excessive phosphorus levels, episodes of blue-green algae, not to mention the impacts of climate change”;
- “Several rivers contain too many pesticides”;
- “The biodiversity of the rivers of southern Quebec is increasingly poor: half of the species of amphibians and reptiles are in a precarious situation and the oxygen level of the estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is deteriorating. . »
The Blue Fund, modeled on the Green Fund — now called the Electrification and Climate Change Fund (FECC) — will inherit the sums generated by a substantial increase in fees payable for the use of water by industries, which will “partly” finance this fund, which will have a budget of 650 million from October 2022 to 2026.
Shoreline cleaning
It remains to be seen whether it will avoid the pitfalls of the FECC, which was again tormented in June by the Commissioner for Sustainable Development, in particular because “virtually all” of the actions financed by the latter “have no indicators or adequate targets”.
With funds from the Blue Fund, the CAQ is proposing a series of new initiatives or program enhancements, such as bringing individual sanitary facilities up to standard, improving funding for the Voluntary Lake Monitoring Network, cleaning banks and rivers, and subsidies to farmers to revegetate riparian strips.
Currently, the water charge brings in the State 3 million per year, and it will be increased, after an initial refusal by the CAQ at the start of the year. François Legault explains today that it is “important to send a signal that we must not waste” water, but that it is too early to say exactly what the increase will be.
Legault speaks out on the resignation of ex-minister Marie-Eve Proulx
The CAQ leader says it was former minister Marie-Eve Proulx who made the decision to leave politics following the publication of new reports on allegations of psychological harassment. “She told me that she found it very hard for her family, that she preferred to withdraw her candidacy,” he said. If re-elected, could Mr. Legault hire Mr.me Proulx in his team? “There is nothing planned in that direction,” he said.