Quebec’s ‘green’ zeal likely to push Trudeau government’s climate policies

Internal government polling says voters in Quebec, unlike those in other provinces, should make fighting climate change a higher priority than inflation or lowering gas prices.

Newly released internal federal government polling shows that voters in Quebec are much keener to see the federal government do more to fight climate change and that climate change is a bigger problem than inflation or lowering gas prices.

And because of the electoral volatility of many seats in Quebec, any party that wishes to form government in Ottawa — including the incumbent Liberals — must account for the extraordinary zeal Quebecers have for ‘green’ policies. The political implication for the Trudeau Liberals, who hold 35 of the province’s 78 seats in the House of Commons, is that Quebec is in a position to have an outsize influence on national climate, energy and environment policies.

“I try to explain to people here that it’s the reason (the Liberals) take into account Quebec more than, let’s say, Alberta,” said Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. “It’s not just the seat count. It’s that (Quebecers) change parties. It’s a four-party system.” The Bloc Québecois is second to the Liberals with 32 seats, the Conservatives have nine seats, the NDP have one and there is one independent.

Every party that holds seats in the National Assembly in Quebec, including the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec, agrees on the priority of climate action and the environment though they may argue over the pace of that action and some details.

Unlike media in English Canada, few, if any, climate skeptics get much of a platform in Quebec media. One reason: most Quebecers now see their reputation as the country’s premiere green province as a crucial part of their identity, one of the things that differentiate Quebec culture and society from other provinces.

“I think Quebec nationalism, in a way, now sees itself as being green, or the idea that Quebec is greener than other provinces has now become part of provincial identity,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor and director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada in Montreal. “There’s a strong consensus among Quebec politicians, too, over the environment.”

Experts also say the structure of Quebec’s economy, the dominance of clean hydroelectric power, and the near absence of any kind of fossil fuel industry have contributed to Quebec’s commitment to climate action.

“You wonder if Alberta was a hydro province and Quebec was a fossil fuel province, if those attitudes would be diametrically opposite,” said Bratt. “Same thing when you look at British Columbia, there’s a huge gap between Vancouver Island, Greater Vancouver and Interior B.C. What is striking is that we don’t see that gap in Quebec.”