Liberals would push Caisse to end fossil fuel investments
Quebec needs an environmental “electroshock,” according to the Quebec Liberal Party, which, if elected to power next year, plans to ask the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) to withdraw from the fossil fuel industry within five years.
While the environment could be placed in the spotlight this week with a planned “great walk for the climate” in Montreal on Friday, the Liberals announced their intention to introduce a bill, should they form the next government, to formalize the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050 for Quebec and to end oil and gas development in the province.
“In environmental matters, the government has a duty to set an example,” Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade said in an interview. “We can no longer discuss economic issues without taking environmental issues into account. That means that all our decisions must measure their environmental and social impact.”
A potential Liberal government will assess its options to force the hand of the CDPQ, which has some independence from the government. Anglade explained that some administrative rules could be applied to the Caisse to push it to move, or that an amendment to the Act respecting the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec could be adopted by the National Assembly.
She said she intends to waste no time if elected premier, introducing a bill to formalize the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 “in the first 100 days” of her mandate, before quickly addressing the CDPQ case.
“If we say we want to be carbon neutral by 2050, we cannot have the CDPQ investing Quebecers' nest egg in something that is not in line with the values we are proposing,” she said.
In its “plan for a green economy,” the Coalition Avenir Québec government included its intention to lead Quebec toward carbon neutrality by 2050, but Anglade said she believes it is necessary to go one step further and introduce a bill on the subject.
The Liberal Party is at the same time committed to cease all oil and natural gas operations, which “are not, even temporarily, a solution to the fight against climate change and meeting international climate objectives.”
A Liberal government would no longer permit the development of these resources and would also “terminate existing operating licences.” Securing abandoned sites is another Liberal promise.
To measure the progress of the province in terms of the fight against climate change, the Liberals propose putting together a climate institute.
The next provincial elections are set for October 2022.