Budget day is a real ritual in Quebec. The government sets out the state’s financial situation, but also its objectives for the future and how to achieve them.
The entire province is hanging on the lips of the Minister of Finance, the event enjoys excellent media coverage and it provokes heated discussions across the province.
PQ member Sylvain Gaudreault dreams of organizing such an event on the issue of climate change.
He dreams, more specifically, of a carbon budget for Quebec.
He is not the only one.
Last month, the member tabled a motion in the National Assembly asking the Advisory Committee on Climate Change to examine the feasibility of such a budget.
The motion was rejected, but soon after, it was the committee itself that recommended the introduction of a carbon budget in Quebec.
Read the committee’s letter to Minister Benoit Charette
As François Legault prepares to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Scotland, the time would be right to announce such an initiative.
With a carbon budget, Quebec should calculate the total quantity of GHGs that can be emitted from one end of the province to the other annually in order to achieve our reduction objectives.
We could no longer simply be satisfied with setting, as is currently the case, a target for 2030 (reducing emissions to 37.5% below their 1990 level) or another for 2050 (carbon neutrality), for example.
Trying to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C – which remains the ultimate goal – is a bit like taking a trip: the destination is important, but the road traveled is just as important. If not, more !
Let’s explain ourselves. Quebec cannot wait until, say, 2048 to make real efforts. Because the quantity of GHGs emitted in a given year – 2021, for example – will add up to that of subsequent years and thus contribute even more to global warming.
Hence the idea of setting annual objectives and checking if they are achieved.
A carbon budget would therefore be a great way to hold our politicians accountable.
Right now, it’s easy for them to make promises and set targets to hit by a date when… they’re probably out of power.
We are dealing here with the aspect of governance in terms of climate change.
It is closely linked to that of the concrete actions taken by the State, but often overlooked, Sylvain Gaudreault underlined in an interview. “It’s a lot less sexy, but it’s fundamental. ”
We are in fact behind Ottawa in terms of governance since the Trudeau government was able to pass a law on carbon neutrality responsibility at the very end of the last session.
From now on, the federal government, regardless of who it is formed by, is forced to establish national GHG reduction targets, but also to unveil the measures it intends to take to achieve them.
The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development has been mandated to review the implementation of the measures, at least once every five years.
Consult the Carbon Neutral Liability Act
Of course, in an ideal world, each time the provincial government tabled a carbon budget, it would make public, at the same time, the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for the previous year.
But that’s not possible either. We must wait more than two years before knowing precisely the content of our GHG emissions.
Our editorialist Philippe Mercure lamented it two years ago and called for change… in vain! We would have every advantage to give a boost as soon as possible.
Read the editorial by Philippe Mercure
A major public annual exercise in Quebec City with a real media resonance around our GHG reduction objectives would be a net gain. While we need more than ever to mobilize all Quebecers in the fight against climate change, it would be wrong to do without.
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