Steven Guilbeault will have to defend his decree on caribou in parliamentary committee

Photo: Tijana Martin La Presse canadienne Québec a déjà annoncé qu’il boycottait les consultations qu’organise Ottawa, en vertu de son décret d’urgence annoncé par le ministre Steven Guilbeault en juin.

A federal parliamentary committee will finally study the impact of Ottawa’s order on caribou protection on the forestry industry, after long and heated debates over the wording of a motion.

Most of the elected members of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development travelled to the federal capital in the middle of August to participate in person in an emergency meeting held on Monday. The committee finally agreed, among other things, to send an invitation to appear to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

The Bloc Québécois had obtained the Liberal Party's agreement to allow parliamentarians to debate, before this body, the merits of the emergency decree issued by Ottawa in June to protect the essential habitat of three populations of forest caribou in Quebec. “It was the best way for MPs to be heard on this issue,” explained Bloc Québécois MP Monique Pauzé.

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The Bloc motion proposed studying “the means to adequately protect caribou while avoiding or minimizing the impact on economic activities,” all while hearing from the minister and experts, as well as representatives from businesses, unions and First Nations. In July, the party had organized a press briefing to ask Ottawa to give Quebec more time before imposing its decree on caribou.

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Stormy meeting

The meeting, however, began chaotically with the tabling of a separate motion on the same subject, which the Conservative Party of Canada had been trying to present since July before another parliamentary committee, the Natural Resources Committee. The Conservative text placed greater emphasis on studying the economic impacts on rural communities and forestry companies in Quebec. He was rejected.

“The Liberal Bloc at work! The Bloc Québécois comes to the aid of Guilbeault's radical job-killing decree,” Conservative MP Luc Berthold immediately railed in a message sent to the social network X.

We are in 2024 [and] conservatives think that we can have an economy that is based in the air, that does not rely on the health of our ecology. That doesn't make sense, where do they come from ?

— Sophie Chatel

The official opposition wanted to invite many more witnesses, including several ministers, and extend the meetings over six days. Its list included Quebec Liberal lieutenant Pablo Rodriguez, who is keeping the suspense about his ambitions for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne.

Conservative MP Richard Martel says he has received many distress calls from his fellow citizens worried about the federal decree on caribou, which is still in the consultation phase. “[This decree] can close businesses. “It could close municipalities,” he said.

The Conservatives spent most of Monday's meeting proposing amendments to extend the parliamentary study, call more witnesses or add to the motion a denunciation of federal interference in Quebec's jurisdictions, among other things. Most of the proposals were defeated.

Agreement reached

“We are in 2024 [and] conservatives think that we can have an economy that is based in the air, that is not based on the health of our ecology. That doesn't make any sense, where do they come from ?” said liberal MP Sophie Chatel, during a moment of tension between committee members.

The leader of the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh, refused earlier Monday to settle the debate between protecting woodland caribou and protecting jobs, since we must “do both.” Before the committee, his Quebec MP, Alexandre Boulerice, instead urged the government to take measures in favor of the environment. “We had COP15 in Montreal, we made some nice speeches, but at some point, it also has to apply in real life. »

After two hours of debate, committee members from all parties finally voted in favor of the amended Bloc motion.

The Quebec government has already announced that it is boycotting the consultations that Ottawa is organizing under its emergency decree. According to its calculations, protecting the caribou’s critical habitat in this way will cause the loss of 2,000 jobs in the region.

With the exception of this type of emergency meeting, federal elected officials are not expected in Ottawa before the parliamentary session scheduled for September 16.