This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of October 4. Click here to subscribe.
“We must contribute to the effort that must be made everywhere on the planet to fight against climate change. We owe this […] to our children, ”said François Legault in his re-election speech Monday evening. The CAQ leader, with a strong mandate in his hands, will therefore be the captain of energy transition and environmental protection in Quebec until 2026. What are the projects awaiting him?
As Mr. Legault mentioned, reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GES) will probably be its main challenge. The target is a reduction of 37.5% by 2030, compared to 1990. The current plan of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) only allows us to go halfway there. And its general orientations will not allow Quebec to reach the 2030 target, according to experts interviewed last summer by The duty.
A huge amount of clean energy — and a huge workforce — will be needed to decarbonize buildings, transport and industries. Energy efficiency will play a role in meeting electricity demand, but new kilowatt-hours will also be essential. Wind power would be one of the best options for Quebec, according to the Trottier Institute. A new hydroelectric damas Mr. Legault wishes, will clash with defenders of the territory, natives and non-natives, who wish to protect the last great wild rivers of Quebec.
Another way to reduce Quebec’s emissions: energy and material sobriety. In this regard, the CAQ does not want to introduce a bonus-malus system on the purchase of new vehicles in order to curb the progression of unnecessarily energy-intensive automobiles – a measure that is nevertheless crucial according to several experts. Its national policy on architecture and land use planning, the implementation plan of which will be published in the winter of 2023, will be another important piece of the puzzle to reduce the distances traveled daily by Quebecers and to increase urban density.
In terms of transportation, the third link will be a major issue of the second CAQ term. The environmental assessment of the future tunnel will start at the beginning of 2023 at the earliest. The drilling of the $6.5 billion underpass could start in 2027, according to the government’s current schedule. “Drop me with the GHGs,” said Caquist candidate Bernard Drainville, now elected MP for Lévis, in early September about the third link. The cars that will circulate there will be electric, he said. According to the master plan of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, the first “pillar” of the government for the energy transition is however sobriety.
Will the Prime Minister stand up to the large municipalities of Quebec, which are asking for a lot more money to adapt to the consequences of climate change ? The torrential rains like the lack of drinking water worry more than one. Mr. Legault could reach out to mayors Bruno Marchand, Stéphane Boyer, Valérie Plante and Catherine Fournier. To overcome the climate challenge, “we are going to need all the arms, all the brains, he said Monday evening. Then yes, I hear the message of young people”.
The large industrial establishments will probably also occupy the Legault bis government. A new ministerial authorization governing arsenic emissions from the Horne foundry should be issued next month. In addition, the works for an imposing project of aviation fuel terminal could begin shortly in Montreal East, where the town hall now officially opposes the project authorized by Quebec in 2019. Ecologists intend to make it a hobbyhorse. Still on the island of Montreal, the project of intermodal platform for containers conducted by Ray-Mont Logistiques, which threatens to accentuate heat islands in the district, will not be fully examined by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE).
The waste management also poses significant problems for the Quebec state. Last winter, the BAPE noted that landfilling had experienced a “clear increase” in recent years, despite the efforts made in terms of recycling and composting. And even with the extended deposit project for beverage containers which should take off next spring, and that of generalizing access to the brown bin by 2026, the government itself recognizes that its objective of reducing landfill waste or incinerated (525 kg per inhabitant in 2025) is out of reach.
Last year, Quebec made a commitment to respect the target of 30% protected areas by 2030 advocated by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. These natural spaces are essential to the fortunes of many species, including woodland caribou — a species that will also be the subject of a joint Quebec-Ottawa game plan, detailed next June. The CAQ, which promised in the campaign to create three new national parks, has been widely criticized in recent years for neglecting to create protected areas in the south of the province.