Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter
Among the more than 70,000 elected officials, bureaucrats, scientists, media, lobbyists, entrepreneurs, academics and observers descending on Dubai this week, will be Official Opposition Liberal critic for environment and climate change, Désirée McGraw.
The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce MNA will be one of the throngs walking the halls of the COP28 (2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference) this week, the only Quebec opposition member to do so.
As local green entrepreneurs and the provincial environment and business ministers bring Quebec’s message to the table, McGraw is part of the Quebec delegation while serving as a counterweight to the official provincial line, investigating on her own what the rest of the world is doing in terms of civil society, the private sector, and what lessons can be brought home to Quebec and Canada for achieving carbon neutrality.
The former youth ambassador at the Rio Youth Summit and reporter says she’ll be watching all negotiations closely. “The government invited, and I accepted. I believe it’s my duty as the critic on climate change to be there and play that role and hold our government to account,” McGraw told The Suburban.
In light of the recent controversy over FTQ union president Magali Picard jetting off to the Dubai summit while almost half a million public sector workers walk frigid picket lines in Quebec, McGraw understands the cynicism, but says “believe me, no one is going on vacation. It’s very intense and I don’t expect to be seeing much of Dubai, which is fine, because I’m there to work.”
What she’s concerned about when people watch these conferences “is that it should not lull people into a false sense of progress, just because people are meeting and talking necessarily, it’s far from sufficient… When the rubber hits the road,” it’s about implementing programs and policies to meet targets “or it’s meaningless.” While bold agreements are needed, “the real work is when you go home and the concern is the targets need to be aligned with reality, science, and then work at a national level and come up with a plan and actions that meet those.”
For example, Quebec has a green plan “but our targets are insufficient to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” and not on track in the short term to meet GHG reductions required compared to 2005 levels, with only 65% of measures in place. In other words, “inadequate measures to get to inadequate targets.”
“Quebec has no excuse; we should be leaders… because our economy is set up for success. There were decisions made — by a Liberal government — in the 1960s to invest in hydro power, clean energy, which does have some environmental challenges but from a carbon, climate perspective, it’s low to zero emissions,” and then under former Premier Jean Charest, Quebec created the first ever carbon market in North America along with California. “Right now with the CAQ, we’re kind of resting on our laurels.”
“Part of the reason I’m going to COP is for solutions; people can get overwhelmed by the science and intellectual pessimism, but we have to be operatively optimistic. It’s an honour and a duty to go, and that’s why I accepted.”