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Green campaign signs, but no green promises >> Has "environment" become a dirty word? by WAYNE HILTZ
Apparently, this eleven-letter word has become a four-letter word, the campaign's biggest non-issue. Considering the stakes involved, eco-groups predict we will be paying the price for ignoring it for many years to come. "The only green thing in the campaign is the background in the PQ signs," says Henri Jacob, president of the Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes (RQGE), a coalition of 55 groups. It's not that the eco-groups haven't pushed hard to get the two major parties to sit up and take notice. The RQGE sent an "ecological contract" to Bouchard and Charest with a list of 10 commitments that would put Quebec on the road to a cleaner environment. Barely controversial, they include: protecting natural habitats; promoting energy conservation and alternative sources; putting in place a 3R waste management plan; maintaining public control of water resources; gradually reducing pesticide use; and adopting an environmental code for investments. So what was the response? "We had an acknowledgement of receipt from the Liberals and not even that from the Parti Québécois. They completely ignored our demand," Jacob fumes. Eco-groups snubbed Being snubbed, however, hasn't been a new experience. During the socioeconomic summit two years ago, eco-groups were the only major community sector to be refused a seat at the table. "[The government] has squarely ignored us since Bouchard came to power," he says. The environment may not be showing up on the parties' radar screens, says Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP) president Daniel Green, but that doesn't mean that it's not a growing popular issue. Recent polls show that the environment is once again becoming a growing concern for Canadians. "Even though environmental concerns are present, it's disturbing that the politicians are either not interested in talking about it or wouldn't know what to say," Green says. Whatever they do or don't say, eco-groups argue that both major parties have offered very similar policies while in office. In its electoral program, the PQ states that it has "resolutely taken the turn towards sustainable development by assuring that environmental concerns are included in the decision-making process." With a 40-per-cent slash in the environment department's budget and being shut out of public debates, Jacob mocks that as "completely ridiculous". The self-regulation trend The Liberals fare no better. "While the PQ at least makes promises but doesn't deliver, the Liberals don't even make the promises," says Michel Séguin, president of Action RE-buts, the Montreal ecological waste management coalition. Prior to the PQ's election victory in 1994, the preceding Liberal government initiated a process of environmental de-regulation that more or less allows industries to "self-regulate" their emissions. The PQ has intensified that by setting up a secretariat to investigate whether certain environmental regulations could discourage investment. "We have a government that uses 'social-democratic' rhetoric but applies neo-liberal policies," Jacob says. Green comments that the new environmental policy refers to promoters and polluters as "clients," adding sarcastically that "we know that the customer is always right." That abdication of governmental responsibilities has led more citizens to seek injunctions to properly enforce regulations, such as people fighting against the relocation of a landfill site in St-Jean-de-Matha, north of Montreal. While no catastrophes have occurred, eco-groups feel that, with slashed budgets and lax supervision, it's just a matter of time before disaster strikes. "The lack of government stewardship will ultimately result in a pretty strong backlash by the environment itself," Green says. Other critics take a longer perspective. With a steadily deteriorating environment, Jacob roasts the PQ government's zero-deficit obsession. "Presently, it's a zero-environment that we're in the process of giving to our children," he says. "All our problems are related to water and air quality and our rapidly depleting natural resources. "We're losing a hectare of productive soil, either forests or agricultural land, every eight seconds."
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Can you say "en-VI-ron-ment"? It may be a long, multi-syllabic word, but it's not that difficult. The real problem is that neither Lucien Bouchard nor Jean Charest--both former federal environment ministers during the Mulroney years--have uttered the word during this election campaign.