QS to push for action, convention is told
Official says transition to clean energy a key to independence movement
Pushing Premier François Legault to take strong action on climate change will be Québec solidaire’s main goal now that it has a stronger presence in the National Assembly, leaders told delegates to the party’s biannual convention in Montreal on Sunday. Manon Massé, the party’s co-spokesperson, told the convention that the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) must take note of the groundswell of popular support for climate-change action in Quebec, which was in clear evidence at the Planet Goes to Parliament rally, which saw tens of thousands of people marching through downtown Montreal on Nov. 10 as well as a rally on Saturday that saw thousands demonstrate in cities throughout Quebec. In the October election, Québec solidaire tripled its members in the National Assembly — electing 10 MNAs — and doubled its membership to 20,000. Massé said the party intends to use its voice in the legislature and that larger membership base to conduct what she called a “vast awareness campaign” about the need to transition to an economy that puts environmental concerns first, particularly climate change. “The struggle against climate change is not some homework we can leave to the last minute,” Massé told the convention. “It is a structuring project for the future of Quebec, a job-creating project that will give new breath to Quebec’s economy. “The faster we act, the more this transition becomes a historic opportunity. The longer we wait with arms crossed, the more time we let pass, the more this opportunity becomes a nightmare,” Massé said. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Québec solidaire’s male co-spokesperson and the leader of the 2012 student uprising, demanded that Legault listen to young people who are marching in the streets to demand climate-change action. The choice now is between making a successful transition to a clean-energy economy or “abandoning future generations to their fate,” he said. “Mr. Legault, you are proud to talk tough with Ottawa on the topic of immigration,” Nadeau-Dubois said. “But what are you doing about Justin Trudeau buying a pipeline with taxpayers’ money? “I am more convinced than ever that the future of the independence movement will include the transition — the economic, energetic and ecological transition — of Quebec,” he added. “And it will pass by way of our exit from the Canadian petroleum state.” He noted that a recent poll showed that almost eight out of 10 Quebecers believe it is important for governments to solve the issue of climate change even if it means the economy suffers. And hundreds of thousands have signed a “pact for transition” away from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the party’s environment critic, Ruba Ghazal, chided Legault for not attending the COP 24 climate summit, saying it symbolizes the CAQ’s “empty chair” policy on climate change. “There will be at least 40 heads of state there,” Ghazal said, who will attend COP 24. “Sadly, our head of state will not attend. That is really too bad, and it shows that the CAQ, on the issue of climate change, wants to play the role of an empty chair on the international scene.” Two of Legault’s predecessors, Philippe Couillard and Jean Charest, attended COP summits. The QS conference included a discussion on the controversial topic of the wearing of religious symbols by public-sector workers, but members voted to exclude media from the discussion. Nadeau-Dubois said the discussion centred on how the party will revisit the question at its next convention in March.
The longer we wait with arms crossed, the more time we let pass, the more this opportunity becomes a nightmare.