Environment Minister Jim Prentice took over from Stephen Harper as enemy No. 1 in the Quebec opinion pages this past week. Mr. Prentice’s recent criticism of the Charest government’s climate-change strategy has prompted several angry rebuttals in the francophone press.
During a speech in Calgary on Feb. 1, Mr. Prentice declared it “absolutely counter-productive and utterly pointless” for provinces to set and pursue their own greenhouse gas reduction targets and he singled out Quebec’s new vehicle emissions regulations as “one of the most glaring examples of the folly of attempting to do it alone.”
La Presse columnist Alain Dubuc called the minister’s comments surreal. “Since when,” Mr. Dubuc asked, “does a minister in charge of protecting the environment criticize a province for doing too much?” He went on to speculate that perhaps the Conservatives were trying to get even after Jean Charest’s criticism of their environmental record during the climate-change conference in Copenhagen. “The Conservatives, who don’t abide opposing views, are simply returning the favour,” Mr. Dubuc quipped.
Le Soleil’s Raymond Giroux labeled Mr. Prentice’s comments “a political bombshell” and accused the minister of displaying a “worrying” case of “Quebecophobia.” Mr. Giroux seconded Mr. Dubuc’s suggestion that Mr. Prentice’s criticism might be, at least in part, an attempt to get back at Mr. Charest for his criticism of Mr. Harper. He was not, however, surprised by Mr. Prentice’s speech. “He’s just doing his job, as a part of a Conservative government that has no intention of saving the planet and which uses any means necessary to slow down and deter any initiative moving in that direction,” Mr. Giroux wrote.
In an editorial published Wednesday in La Presse, André Pratte called Mr. Prentice’s latest comments “more proof of the incompetence of the Conservative government.” Mr. Pratte contended that most of the government’s decisions regarding environmental issues “seem to be made for ideological or partisan reasons.” In his critique of Mr. Prentice’s Calgary speech, Mr. Pratte disapproved of the Environment Minister’s decision to “hit hard” when it came to the Quebec regulations, while at the same time “going easy” on the Alberta government and the oil and gas industry. Mr. Pratte opined that it was “plausible” the Conservatives were seeking revenge following Mr. Charest’s attacks on Mr. Harper, since “the only area in which the Conservatives really excel is in pettiness.”
The onslaught continued in Brigitte Breton’s editorial in Le Soleil on the same day. Ms. Breton echoed Mr. Pratte’s contention that the Conservative stand on climate change was ideologically motivated and pointed to Mr. Prentice’s criticism of Quebec’s regulations as an example of how “intolerant and acerbic the Conservative government can be toward those who do not share its ideology.” Ms. Breton argued that Mr. Prentice’s stated commitment to align Canadian climate change policy with that of the United States runs somewhat counter to his criticism of Quebec’s emissions rules. She pointed out that several American states – including California, New York, Vermont and Maine – have also instituted vehicle emissions standards just like those adopted by Quebec, and therefore Mr. Prentice should not be so quick to “discredit and distort” Quebec’s new rules.
Le Devoir’s Manon Cornellier devoted her Wednesday column to analyzing the Conservative decision to lower Canada’s greenhouse gas emission targets to align with those set by Washington. Ms. Cornellier argued that even matching the U.S. 2020 emissions target of 17 per cent below 2005 levels will be extremely difficult for Canada at this point. “What Mr. Prentice isn’t saying is that the American targets have already been written into bills being studied by Congress,” Ms. Cornellier wrote. “In Canada, we haven’t even seen the beginnings of a bill or a line of a regulation that incorporates the government’s intentions” on greenhouse gas reductions. Ms. Cornellier predicted that Canada would soon find itself “playing catch-up” to the United States as the Conservative government continues to hid behind “all possible pretexts to avoid taking action.”
