On climate change, Quebec parties fail to provide tough measures needed to meet emissions targets

Quebecers like to say they care about the environment. Of the first 25,000 people to complete CBC's Vote Compass survey, which asks voters for their priorities, 31 per cent listed the environment as the issue they considered most important in this election.

The environment was mentioned more frequently than any other issue in August ; more than health care; more than the economy.

But this finding confronts another quantifiable observation about Quebec: it is set to blow its 2030 emissions target, according to projections released earlier this year. 

At the moment, the province isn't even headed in the right direction. Between 2016 and 2019, emissions increased in Quebec by nearly three per cent, due largely to the continued brisk sales of SUVs and other gas-guzzling vehicles, as stated in the February report The State of Energy in Quebec 2022, published by HEC Montréal.

This is not an intractable problem. There are several well-established policies the next government could use to get the province back on track to meet its 2030 targets. 

But most of these policies would involve large numbers of Quebecers adopting a less car-dependent lifestyle, given transport accounts for the bulk of the province's emissions, according to the province's annual emissions report. 

So far, political parties have been reluctant to do more than gently suggest other ways of getting around.

"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 Leger.

Speaking with CBC's Radio Noon last week, Bourque described a political logic in Quebec in which parties know they are expected to discuss the environment, but also know they will be punished if they propose measures seen as too drastic.

Yet it's those "drastic" measures — taxes on polluting vehicles, for example, or higher gas taxes — that experts say would actually help Quebec reach its emissions target.

Instead, Quebec's political parties have largely opted for proposals the would delay the hard work of fighting climate change in the hope that Quebecers will come around on their own. 

To begin this overview at one end of the political spectrum, the Quebec Conservatives haven't even put forward an emissions reduction target. 

Leader Éric Duhaime has said meeting targets wasn't worth the effort given Quebec is responsible for only a small percentage of the carbon released into the environment.

The Coalition Avenir Québec, led by incumbent Premier François Legault, has sought to fend off the challenge from its right flank by presenting itself as a more pragmatic, sensible alternative to the Conservatives on the environment.