Quebec refuses to take part in caribou consultations

A caribou grazes on Baffin Island in a 2008 file photo. The Quebec government will not take part the federal consultations on the caribou. (Kike Calvo, The Associated Press)

Quebec says it will not take part in consultation meetings surrounding the drafting of a possible emergency decree to protect the caribou.

In a six-page letter sent on Wednesday to Canadian Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault, Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette and Natural Resources and Quebec Forestry Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina reiterated that the emergency decree announced by Ottawa last month represents a "unilateral and illegitimate decision by the federal government, which is categorically rejected by Quebec."

Ottawa's move "constitutes an unspeakable affront and runs counter to respect for the constitutional division of powers between the two levels of government," according to the ministers.

Not only will Quebec not participate in the consultations, but "the federal government will have to fully assume the economic and social consequences of its decision," the ministers argue.

Among these consequences, the province estimates that there could be "a loss of at least 2,000 jobs in the planned provisional zones alone."

These job losses would result from the projected reduction in allowable cuts.

For Quebec as a whole, the federal decree on caribou would result in a 4.1 per cent drop in allowable cut, equivalent to 1.4 million cubic metres of wood per year, according to an analysis published last week by Quebec's chief forester, Louis Pelletier.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 24, 2024.