CAQ climate-change effort tepid, ineffective, critics say
QUEBEC Accused during the election of overlooking climate change in favour of expanding highways, the Coalition Avenir Québec government on Thursday vowed to take the issue seriously.
Under the CAQ’s first budget, Quebec will spend an extra $1.3 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next six years, with the money coming from the Green Fund generated by the province’s cap-and-trade system.
But critics, including opposition parties and municipalities, say the government’s plan is tepid and will be ineffective.
One of the main initiatives is an extension and expansion of the provincial rebate program for Quebecers buying electric cars. The government also set aside money to help deal with the growing challenge of recycling plastic and glass.
Finance Minister Eric Girard described them as stopgap measures while the government works on a new “enhanced approach” to combating climate change, due this year.
That effort will involve increasing exports of hydroelectricity, “a clean energy source and the greatest contribution Quebec can make to the fight against climate change,” he said.
Pending the new approach, Quebec, which has one of the lowest emission rates per capita in North America, “is allocating significantly more resources for the transition toward a greener, more sustainable economy,” Girard said.
The budget’s single biggest climate-change-plan expense focuses on encouraging Quebecers to buy electric vehicles.
The government is extending for at least two years the rebate given to those purchasing all-electric and hybrid vehicles. It’s also broadening the measure to include used all-electric cars.
Just under $434 million over two years will be spent on the program, which is expected to contribute to the purchase of 66,000 electric vehicles and the installation of 29,000 charging stations over two years
A Quebecer buying a new electric car that costs under $75,000 gets an $8,000 rebate. A vehicle that costs between $75,000 and $125,000 generates a $3,000 rebate.
Starting this year, purchasers of used all-electric cars can also benefit. They’ll get $4,000 rebates for vehicles that cost less than $75,000, and $1,500 if they cost between $75,000 and $125,000.
Quebec plans to change the program next year. Starting then, only new and used cars that cost under $60,000 will be eligible for rebates.
In its budget Tuesday, the federal Liberal government announced a new $5,000 rebate for Canadians who buy zero-emission vehicles that cost less than $45,000.
In addition to the rebates, Quebec is earmarking $410 million to help businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The province also plans to deal with the glut of recyclable materials that have been accumulating since China stopped accepting the contaminated materials that Quebec’s recycling system produces.
Premier François Legault’s government is setting aside $100 million to, among other things, modernize recycling centres and bankroll technological innovation.
The province’s 10-year infrastructure plan also includes measures — some in the planning stages, other still being studied — to discourage car use.
They include $1.3 billion for sustainable mobility projects and the purchase of hybrid and electric buses, as well as money for studies of major transit projects for eastend Montreal and Longueuil and reserved transit lanes on Highways 13, 20, 25 and 440 and 640.
Although pleased with other parts of the budget, Quebec municipal governments are disappointed with the climate change plan, said Alexandre Cusson, president of the Union des municipalités du Québec.
“Public transit is the best way to reduce emissions, and we’ve been asking for money from the Green Fund to be used for transit projects, but that didn’t happen,” Cusson said.
“Every region has projects that are urgently needed,” Cusson said. And the province should be ponying up more money to help finance transit services already in place, he said.
Opposition parties also panned the plan.
“We’re heading straight for a climate-change iceberg, and Captain Legault is staying the course,” said Manon Massé, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.
Suggesting the plan is “a catastrophe and completely irresponsible,” she said the government should be investing massively in public transit.
Instead, the latest 10-year infrastructure plan shows the same amount of planned spending on transit as last year — $9 billion — while proposals for spending on roads increased by 25 per cent to reach $24.5 billion.
She said a major “economic and ecological transition” is in order, and simply encouraging the purchase of electric cars is not enough.
Parti Québécois finance critic Martin Ouellet said the CAQ has a tin ear when it comes to climate change and was oblivious to the tens of thousands of youth who demanded action on climate change in a march last week.
“What’s the message to the young people who held a march last week?” Ouellet asked. “It’s: ‘We’re not listening to you, we’re not hearing you.’”
The environmental group Equiterre welcomed the green initiatives but said it was frustrated by the lack of public transportation funding.
Transit investments now account for 27 per cent of Quebec’s infrastructure spending plan, down from 31 per cent.
“Remember that the CAQ was committed to parity between public transit and roads,” said Sidney Ribaux, the group’s executive director.