Kowtowing to Alberta impedes Quebec on greenhouse gases, Duceppe says
Elizabeth Thompson
CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette
Sunday, December 04, 2005
MONTREAL - A sovereign Quebec could do a better job of protecting the environment because Quebec wouldn't be forced to accommodate Alberta's oil industry, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said Saturday as he announced plans to donate money from his campaign budget to an environmental group to compensate for the greenhouse gases his campaign is going to create.
``If Quebec were a sovereign country it would be able to adopt a territorial approach as to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as is the case for the European Union,'' he said. ``Which is not the case with Canada. We have voluntary norms with automobiles, we reduced the tax burden for oil companies and the big emitters don't have to assume the share they should assume in terms of their effort to collectively attain Kyoto.
``So Quebec the country would do better placed than Quebec the province to attain the six per cent.''
Saturday was the second day in a row that Duceppe was sharply critical of Alberta's oil industry and its effect on greenhouse gases, citing it as a reason for Quebec to become a sovereign country.
Speaking to members of his party's youth wing Friday night, Duceppe said Canada is hosting the climate change conference but its own track record is ``disastrous.''
``In Paul Martin's Canada, the oil companies pay less income tax than in George W. Bush's Texas,'' he said to boos from the crowd. ``Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions increased in Paul Martin's Canada more than in George W. Bush's United States.''
``Now even if Canada has a disastrous track record, they want to lecture Quebec. They want Quebec to pay for Alberta's oil industry ... Young Quebecers don't want to give their money, again, for years to the oil companies.''
Duceppe said the Bloc Quebecois will turn over $25 for each tonne of greenhouse gases emitted by the campaign buses and planes that the campaign will use to reach more remote regions. That works out to about $8 per 100 kilometres the campaign travels by bus and $2.75 to $4.50 per passenger for each 1,000 km travelled by plane.
The money will be donated to the environmental group Unisfera and used to promote everything from solar heating to green roofs, tree planting and converting motors to biodiesel.
``It will be a few thousand dollars,'' Duceppe told reporters. His party's press release, however, said the Bloc expects to give Unisfera close to $3,000.
Duceppe has challenged the three other federal party leaders to do the same. Saturday, none of them responded.
Duceppe said his party's platform also calls for vehicles to post the amount of greenhouse gases that they produce and called for strict energy efficiency norms for the manufacture of vehicles and heavy penalties if they are not respected.
However, Duceppe wasn't willing Saturday to go as far as to trade in his full-size leader's bus that carries around 6 to 8 people for a minivan that would create fewer greenhouse gases in the first place or a small motorhome like the one used by former Quebec Liberal leader Daniel Johnson.
Later in the day Duceppe moved to visually illustrate his environmental message by briefly glad handing with marchers at the global march on climate change in downtown Montreal.
Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair, who also attended the march, welcomed Duceppe's idea of federal party leaders donating money to environment groups to compensate for the greenhouse gases the campaign will produce.
``It's something that is in vogue. In terms of the overall mass of greenhouse gas production it doesn't change that much but I do think it sends a proper message.''
Mulcair said greenhouse gas reduction is important that's why Quebec is working so hard to get a plan in place while at the same time ensuring that Quebec gets its fair share in the deal with Ottawa.
``Unfortunately we weren't able to get our deal with the feds. If it's not with Mr. (Stephane) Dion now, perhaps it will be with somebody else at the end of the winter.''
If Quebec doesn't get its fair share from Ottawa, then it does end up paying for the clean up of Alberta, he said.
However, Mulcair scoffed at Duceppe's idea that a sovereign Quebec could somehow do a better job of administering the environment.
``I think Mr. Duceppe has to be careful not to turn into a self parody. To say that an independent Quebec would somehow no longer be connected atmospherically to its neighbours is a bit of a canard.''
Montreal Gazette
© CanWest News Service 2005
Elizabeth Thompson
CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette
Sunday, December 04, 2005
MONTREAL - A sovereign Quebec could do a better job of protecting the environment because Quebec wouldn't be forced to accommodate Alberta's oil industry, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said Saturday as he announced plans to donate money from his campaign budget to an environmental group to compensate for the greenhouse gases his campaign is going to create.
``If Quebec were a sovereign country it would be able to adopt a territorial approach as to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as is the case for the European Union,'' he said. ``Which is not the case with Canada. We have voluntary norms with automobiles, we reduced the tax burden for oil companies and the big emitters don't have to assume the share they should assume in terms of their effort to collectively attain Kyoto.
``So Quebec the country would do better placed than Quebec the province to attain the six per cent.''
Saturday was the second day in a row that Duceppe was sharply critical of Alberta's oil industry and its effect on greenhouse gases, citing it as a reason for Quebec to become a sovereign country.
Speaking to members of his party's youth wing Friday night, Duceppe said Canada is hosting the climate change conference but its own track record is ``disastrous.''
``In Paul Martin's Canada, the oil companies pay less income tax than in George W. Bush's Texas,'' he said to boos from the crowd. ``Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions increased in Paul Martin's Canada more than in George W. Bush's United States.''
``Now even if Canada has a disastrous track record, they want to lecture Quebec. They want Quebec to pay for Alberta's oil industry ... Young Quebecers don't want to give their money, again, for years to the oil companies.''
Duceppe said the Bloc Quebecois will turn over $25 for each tonne of greenhouse gases emitted by the campaign buses and planes that the campaign will use to reach more remote regions. That works out to about $8 per 100 kilometres the campaign travels by bus and $2.75 to $4.50 per passenger for each 1,000 km travelled by plane.
The money will be donated to the environmental group Unisfera and used to promote everything from solar heating to green roofs, tree planting and converting motors to biodiesel.
``It will be a few thousand dollars,'' Duceppe told reporters. His party's press release, however, said the Bloc expects to give Unisfera close to $3,000.
Duceppe has challenged the three other federal party leaders to do the same. Saturday, none of them responded.
Duceppe said his party's platform also calls for vehicles to post the amount of greenhouse gases that they produce and called for strict energy efficiency norms for the manufacture of vehicles and heavy penalties if they are not respected.
However, Duceppe wasn't willing Saturday to go as far as to trade in his full-size leader's bus that carries around 6 to 8 people for a minivan that would create fewer greenhouse gases in the first place or a small motorhome like the one used by former Quebec Liberal leader Daniel Johnson.
Later in the day Duceppe moved to visually illustrate his environmental message by briefly glad handing with marchers at the global march on climate change in downtown Montreal.
Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair, who also attended the march, welcomed Duceppe's idea of federal party leaders donating money to environment groups to compensate for the greenhouse gases the campaign will produce.
``It's something that is in vogue. In terms of the overall mass of greenhouse gas production it doesn't change that much but I do think it sends a proper message.''
Mulcair said greenhouse gas reduction is important that's why Quebec is working so hard to get a plan in place while at the same time ensuring that Quebec gets its fair share in the deal with Ottawa.
``Unfortunately we weren't able to get our deal with the feds. If it's not with Mr. (Stephane) Dion now, perhaps it will be with somebody else at the end of the winter.''
If Quebec doesn't get its fair share from Ottawa, then it does end up paying for the clean up of Alberta, he said.
However, Mulcair scoffed at Duceppe's idea that a sovereign Quebec could somehow do a better job of administering the environment.
``I think Mr. Duceppe has to be careful not to turn into a self parody. To say that an independent Quebec would somehow no longer be connected atmospherically to its neighbours is a bit of a canard.''
Montreal Gazette
© CanWest News Service 2005
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