Environment

The environment is our legacy to future generations, and we have an obligation to leave them a sustainable future. The Green Party of Quebec aims to protect the environment and reduce the consequences of climate change. We are seeking to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to achieve this we are proposing a panoply of solutions and financial levers to change Quebec's lifestyles, while investing in the energy transition. 

Transport

The Green Party of Quebec proposes to make public transit faster, more comfortable, more efficient and more affordable than private cars. To achieve this, we propose a massive expansion of the network combined with free fares. Free public transit will be a major financial lever to boost ridership. This increase in ridership will enable transit companies to increase the frequency of service, improving speed and efficiency. This shift towards public transit will benefit all Quebecers, who will be able to breathe cleaner air, waste less time in traffic jams, save on vehicle purchase and maintenance costs, and do their part in the fight against climate change. The company's shift will be financed mainly by a carbon tax on gasoline, as well as measures to discourage the purchase of gas-guzzling vehicles.

The Green Party of Quebec also proposes to abolish subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles and to invest these sums in the expansion of urban, interurban and rural public transport and the construction of charging infrastructure, which is already lagging far behind. A Green government would oblige automakers to sell new electric vehicles from 2030. 

Forests 

The Green Party of Quebec supports the sustainable exploitation of our forests by well-paid workers with adequate working conditions. We support the nationalization of the forest industry, including harvesting, transport and local processing of this resource, which would be managed by a new government corporation: Forêts Québec. Nationalization combined with a decline in this industry will enable Quebec to better manage its public forests, guarantee quality jobs for fewer workers and process more wood locally. 

Au Parti Vert du Québec nous avons de loin le plan le plus ambitieux pour la réduction de CO2 et l’ensemble des GES. Ce plan vise les émissions net-zéro d’ici 2035. C’est-à- dire une réduction majeure dans tous les secteurs combinés avec des mesures concrètes pour capter le CO2 incluant le reboisement, la captation des émissions de méthane et l’interdiction de l’enfouissement des déchets organiques. 

GHG emissions assessment program

Every industrial project comes with GHG emissions. At present, the government does not account for the emissions associated with major projects in Quebec. The information associated with these emissions is essential to any decision on the merits of a project. A Green Party government will introduce a climate test for all new major government projects in Quebec.

Recycling

The Green Party of Quebec will nationalize Quebec's recycling industry and introduce an ecotax on certain industrial materials. In addition, a deposit-refund system will be introduced to encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they produce, while at the same time financing the recycling industry. A new, more complex sorting system will be created to separate the different recyclable materials and avoid the soiling that makes certain materials non-recyclable or more difficult to recycle. We will invest in the recycling industry in both northern and southern Quebec, while improving our capacity to recycle textile waste, which is currently sent to landfill or abroad. 

Environmental policing 

The Green Party of Quebec is proposing to set up a new police unit dedicated to environmental investigations. This police unit will have environmental experts, specialized detectives and conventional police officers working together on investigations. This new police force will be governed by a new Environmental Police Act, which will give them the legal leverage they need to obtain the tools, funding and powers they need to do their job.

Renewable energies and energy transition 

A Green Party government in Quebec commits to spending a minimum of $500 billion in its first term to kick-start a rapid, efficient and equitable energy transition. 

Le Québec est un grand producteur d’hydroélectricité et possède actuellement une gigantesque capacité de production d’électricité. Le Parti Vert du Québec propose d’augmenter drastiquement l’efficacité énergétique des immeubles neufs et déjà construits avec des programmes ciblés. Ces programmes, combinés avec une expansion de l’énergie éolienne, géothermique et de l’énergie solaire, auront pour effet d’augmenter notre surplus d’électricité, qui pourra donc être vendu à l’Ontario ou aux États-Unis. Les fonds générés seront injectés dans les programmes d’efficacité énergétique.

Through Ressources Québec, the Quebec government has transferred billions of dollars to non-renewable resource extraction and exploration projects. The Green Party of Quebec believes that these subsidies are unnecessary for mining development, and are nothing more than generous gifts of taxpayers' money to private industry. The Green Party of Québec is committed to abolishing the Ressource Québec fund and transferring these investments to renewable resource industries. 

Natural infrastructures are essential to meeting the needs of the species inhabiting our Quebec ecosystem. They essentially comprise networks of wetlands and forests, providing our biodiversity with the ability to thrive in a healthy environment. The Green Party of Quebec is committed to contributing a minimum of 1% of Quebec's infrastructure budgets towards natural infrastructures such as woodland protection, wetlands, urban greening measures and natural bridges for wildlife. The construction of bridges composed of greenery or underpasses will aim to avoid fragmentation of natural habitats. 

The Green Party of Quebec supports subsidy and interest-free loan programs to massively expand solar, geothermal and wind energy technologies in the home, in order to reduce our ecological footprint and promote sustainable development.

Protecting endangered species 

A green government would put pressure on the federal government to protect marine species in danger of extinction due to human activity in regions that are supposed to be protected. In addition, we join Greenpeace in calling for a moratorium on industrial development projects on the shores of the Saguenay, in an attempt to halt the demographic decline of belugas and reverse the mortifying trend. The Green Party of Quebec is committed to protecting all species in the province.