Environment Minister accuses environmental organisations of “bad faith”

Photo: Ryan Remiorz Archives La Presse canadienne Le ministre de l’Environnement du Québec, Benoit Charette

Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette is attacking Greenpeace and Action Boréale, for whom “facts count for little,” in his eyes.

In a press scrum at the entrance to a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the CAQ elected official did not hold back in criticizing the two environmental organizations. He returned to publications he had made two days earlier on the social network X and in which he accused them of “multiplying errors of fact.”

In it, the Minister of the Environment criticized Action Boréale, a group campaigning for the preservation of the boreal forest, which includes singer Richard Desjardins, for engaging in “rants” that “certainly” harm the cause. He refers in particular to a letter in which the organization accuses Quebec of having created a series of protected areas in northern Quebec for the sole purpose of achieving its objectives of protecting the territory.

In another message, Mr. Charette described activist Patrick Bonin of Greenpeace Canada as one of “those for whom facts count for little.”

Called to explain himself on Wednesday, Mr. Charette went further, accusing Greenpeace of climate unreality and Action Boréale of distorting the facts. “Greenpeace […] has greenhouse gas [GHG] reduction targets that are downright impossible. What Mr. Bonin wants in terms of decarbonization is to take us back to the Stone Age, literally,” he argued, in addition to repeating that “Mr. Desjardins’ group [Action boréale] has issued numerous open letters that multiply factual errors” in recent years.

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Unfortunately, in this debate, the minister seems to quickly forget the costs of inaction that we are suffering

— Patrick Bonin

When asked whether it is appropriate for a Minister of the Environment to publicly criticize environmental organizations, the minister simply replied that he no longer wanted to do business with “bad faith” groups—without naming anyone, this time. “I am a good faith person, so I am in contact with all people of good faith. But in the environmental community, there are also people of bad faith, and I tend to distance myself from these people.”

“Diverting the debate”

Reached Wednesday afternoon, Patrick Bonin, head of the Climate-Energy campaign at Greenpeace Canada, retorted that Benoit Charette was “diverting the debate” by trying to “personalize” it. “Unfortunately, in this debate, the minister seems to quickly forget the costs of inaction that we are suffering with the floods, forest fires and deadly heat waves that are already seriously affecting Quebec. That is the real reason why a rich nation like Quebec must do much more,” he maintained on the other end of the line.

The “impossible” GHG emissions reduction target mentioned by the minister is not a target put forward by Greenpeace, but rather by the Climate Action Network Canada, which brings together 150 organizations across the country, including environmental groups, unions, health organizations and youth groups.

This group believes that Quebec must increase its GHG emissions reduction target and aim for a 65% reduction by 2030 compared to the 1990 level. For the moment, Quebec’s target is 37.5%, and, according to the most recent available assessment, that of 2021, emissions have only fallen by 8.9% compared to the level observed in 1990.

The target proposed by the Climate Action Network Canada is based in particular on the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, which has already estimated that compliance with the commitments of the Paris Agreement would require a reduction of at least 55% compared to the 2018 level. For Quebec, this would mean a reduction of approximately 60%. But we must add the additional effort that Quebec must make — in particular because of its historical responsibility on an international scale, but also because of its financial and technical means.

Contacted on Wednesday, Action boréale had not yet responded to Devoir at the time these lines were written.

With Marie-Michèle Sioui and Alexandre Shields