Climate change challenges will be 'immense': Quebec mayors demand change from province
Mayors from several Quebec municipalities are calling for a province-wide effort to address “immense” incoming challenges caused by climate change.
“In the years to come, we already know that Quebec municipalities will have to invest billions of dollars to deal with the climate crisis,” read an open letter published in La Presse.
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante was one of several co-signers, including mayors of Quebec City, Gatineau, Victoriaville, Sainte-Martine, Val-David, Saint-Camille, Terrebonne, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Chelsea.
“A concerted effort,” is required across the province in order to reduce emissions and ecosystem damage – something they write is “no easy task.”
However, read the letter, “Natures and the upheavals that shake it do not care about our administrative limits.”
“The pandemic has shown us that well over the past year and a half.”
The effects of climate change can already be felt in Quebec, most recently as scorching, repeated summer heatwaves and poor air quality due to forest fires expected to intensify in coming years.
In August, the United Nations declared a climate “code red,” demanding substantial government shifts to reduce emissions, with significant, irreversible damage already done.
Policy change is on the way in Quebec, but what that change will look like remains to be seen.
Consultations are underway towards an expected overhaul of land use laws in Quebec.
The plan is expected to affect, among other areas, urban expansion rules -- which have “changed little over the past 40 years,” according to the province.
“Let us think about the pandemic, the new climatic realities,” said Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Andrée Laforest in a recent press release.
The mayors say, whatever ends up in the new action plan, incentives in the form of “eco-taxes” will need to be substantial.
“It will be necessary to be bold and reward the good players.”
Web consultations will continue until Sept. 17. The province will then meet with First Nations and Inuit residents specifically, with the strategy expected to be published in spring, 2022.
UNITED CITIES
It’s the second time mayors banded together to demand change from lawmakers this week.
On Tuesday, leaders of Quebec’s five largest municipalities demanded “clear and firm” gun control plans from federal leaders.
Read more: Quebec mayors band together to demand 'clear and firm' gun control from federal leaders
In its list of demands, Montreal called for a country-wide ban on the private possession of handguns and assault weapons in order to tackle “the source” of the rise in gun violence in the city.
As of Thursday, the city had reported 18 homicides so far in 2021, as gun crime rises across the country.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of such offenses rose from 3,544 in 2019 to 4,137 in 2020, up 15 per cent in the sixth consecutive annual increase.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.