Drainville questions Quebec’s GHG reduction targets

The new Minister of the Environment, Bernard Drainville, is ready to review Quebec’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets.

In accordance with international agreements, Quebec has committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 37.5 per cent by 2030, compared to the 1990 level. 

This commitment even appears in the Environmental Quality Act.

Transferred from Environmental Education, Drainville opened the door to reviewing the target, which could be less restrictive. 

This is what he indicated in a press scrum shortly after being sworn in on Wednesday at the presentation of the new CAQ cabinet to parliament.

“We are going to do a deep, rigorous and thoughtful exercise,” he replied in English on the revision of the targets.

“Environmental targets, like everything else, will be the subject of reflection. It is too early to tell you what the situation is; everything is in balance,” he also said in French. 

A member of parliament for Lévis and a fervent defender of the third link project, Drainville had also expressed a certain dissatisfaction with the GHG reduction objectives. 

Legault also went in the same direction of a revision during the speech presenting his cabinet. 

Drainville “will also review the Plan for a Green Economy to ensure that we take into account the new North American context and the priorities of Quebecers,” François Legault announced in the Assembly’s agora. 

This could open the door to questioning Quebec’s main tool for reducing GHGs: the Cap-and-Trade System for Emissions Allowances, commonly called the Carbon Exchange, which has an upward effect on the price of a litre of gasoline at the pump.

In the midst of the 2022 election campaign, Drainville even expressed that GHG emissions were of little concern to him. 

He had dismissed out of hand the fears concerning the increase in GHGs induced by the third link, the road bridge-tunnel project which would connect his constituency to Quebec City. 

He then said: “Leave me alone with the greenhouse gases,” and then argued that the future lies in the electric car.

Does he lack credibility now that he is Minister of the Environment?

“Those who think that should at least give the runner a chance,” he replied. 

He also sees “no opposition” between the environment and the third link.

“I will defend (the third link) as I defended it before,” he said.

He assured that he himself was a nature lover, as he was raised on farmland. 

“I’m a hunter, a beekeeper, and the son of a farmer, and I think it all fits together very well.”

Greenpeace et QS

Environmental groups and Québec solidaire (QS) greeted Drainville’s arrival with skepticism, even severity.

“This is a slap in the face to all those who care about the environment,” said QS MNA Alexandre Leduc in a press release.

“By choosing to put Drainville in charge of the Environment, François Legault confirms that the interests of the planet and future generations come after the profits of multinationals.”

He also calls on him to quickly convene a parliamentary committee to set an “ambitious” next target for reducing greenhouse gases in view of COP30 this autumn.

Indeed, the new minister faces a pressing deadline. Every five years, under the Environment Quality Act, Quebec must revise its target, and the last time was in 2020.

The minister must therefore hold consultations in parliamentary committee. Furthermore, let us add that the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is scheduled to take place in November in Belem, Brazil, and Quebec usually participates with its Minister of the Environment. 

“The appointment of Drainville to this position – a politician who brushed aside climate issues in the third link file – leaves us perplexed,” said Louis Couillard, head of the climate and energy campaign at Greenpeace Canada.

“There will be a strong temptation to give in to pressure to weaken our mechanisms for combating climate change, such as the cap-and-trade system for emissions allowances or the gas tax, but this kind of setback would be unacceptable as the climate crisis spirals out of control,” Alice-Anne Simard, executive director of Nature Québec, made it clear.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews