Quebecers tend to talk big on environmental issues, but they’re not so keen to walk their talk, finds a recent poll, and so politicians across the spectrum—with eyes on the ballot box—are happy to punt meaningful climate action on to future generations.
“Quebecers like to say they care about the environment,” writes CBC News, citing a recent Vote Compass survey in which 31% of the first 25,000 people polled put the planet at the top of their list of policy priorities.
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That concern collides with the fact that too many Quebecers love their cars—especially SUVs—a passion that drove a nearly 3% increase in emissions between 2016 and 2019.
That trajectory bodes ill for the province’s 2030 emissions target, but it “is not an intractable problem,” writes CBC, with “several well-established policies” that could help Quebecers become less car dependent. But “so far, political parties have been reluctant to do more than gently suggest other ways of getting around,” the news story states.
“It’s as if it’s important to talk about [the environment], but when it comes down to doing something about it, a lot of the electorate becomes fairly cold to whatever is proposed,” said Christian Bourque, vice-president of the polling firm Léger.
Bourque said Quebec’s political parties know they are expected to discuss the environment, but also know they will be punished if they propose any drastic measures. For most parties, this means that if climate action is mentioned at all—and the Quebec Conservatives can’t be bothered—it’s generally through pie-in-the-sky notions towards meeting 2030 emissions targets, or all carrots and no stick.
Coalition Avenir Québec, led by incumbent Premier François Legault, is offering an emissions target 6.5% below the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s safe minimum. Their plan is to simply swap fossil cars out with electric ones, with the resultant power demand being covered by a brand new hydroelectric dam whose viability is already in doubt: First Nations communities that would be affected by the megaproject are condemning it on the grounds they would be flooded out.
Similarly, the Liberals are pledging C$100 billion towards developing a green hydrogen industry by 2050. That’s a promising idea, but it “doesn’t address the near-term issue of meeting the 2030 targets,” CBC says.
The Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire have the 2030 target firmly in sight, each proposing emissions reductions of up to 50% by that date, mostly by way of “huge investment in public transit.” PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has offered multiple incentives, everything from cheap public transit to tax credits for EVs.
But he stops short of penalizing high emitters. “The mistake would be to add restrictions on people who have no other options,” Plamondon has said.
Only Québec Solidaire (QS) is taking the political risk of pitching a 15% tax on the purchase of SUVs and other heavy polluting vehicles, CBC says, with exceptions for large families and people living in remote areas.
While many climate policy experts in Quebec are praising QS’s move, they worry that it won’t be enough to motivate a change in consumer habits—a “timidity”, CBC writes, that will leave future generations holding the bag.
