(Quebec) Ottawa’s decree aimed at protecting caribou habitat would result in the loss of 2,400 to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in Quebec, depending on whether the federal government targets isolated populations in certain regions or targets their entire territory of housing.
This is what is indicated by an analysis produced Tuesday by the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, a document that La Presse obtained.
The Trudeau government’s Cabinet gave the green light Tuesday to a decree that would allow Ottawa to “take control of a territory” where the animal lives. Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault accuses his Quebec counterpart, Benoit Charette, of not doing enough to protect the caribou, an endangered species. Quebec – just like the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois in Ottawa – criticizes the federal government for neglecting the impacts on the forestry industry.
On Monday, Steven Guilbeault notified Benoit Charette in writing that he would “recommend to the Governor in Council to adopt an emergency decree to protect the boreal caribou.” The Forestry Sector of the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests “was subsequently asked” to assess the socio-economic impacts associated with a potential reduction in forestry potential if the federal government actually issued a decree to this effect. can we read in his analysis dated June 18.
This analysis makes a preliminary estimate of the reductions in allowable forestry that the decree would cause. This is the reduction in the volume of net wood that can be subject to industrial processing. This volume is or could be the subject of the granting of forest rights aimed at wood processing, it is specified. To measure the impacts, we took into account “the volumes of wood actually harvested historically in order, in the case of job losses, to be able to link them to a specific processing plant”.
Result: “The issuance of a decree for isolated populations [of caribou of Val-d’Or, Charlevoix and Pipmuacan] would cause a reduction in allowable forestry of 1.1 million gross cubic meters per year,” we can read . There would be “an annual loss of added value of $183.2 million” and “an estimated loss of approximately 2,400 direct and indirect jobs.”
And “if the federal decree applied to the entire range of forest caribou and mountain caribou, the reduction in allowable forestry would be 14 million gross cubic meters per year,” it says. “This would have the impact of: an annual loss of added value of more than 2.2 billion per year and an estimated loss of more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
The document specifies that the calculations are based on an evaluation of the allowable cut produced in 2022 by the Chief Forester of Quebec.
La Presse reported last week that the Legault government had again pushed back caribou protection measures by extending the consultation on pilot projects announced in April until October 31. It was to end on July 30. In April, it unveiled a partial plan for habitat restoration, land protection, regulation of uses and regulatory changes for the highly vulnerable herds of mountain caribou in Gaspésie and woodland caribou in Charlevoix instead of a comprehensive strategy to protect all of the dozen caribou herds in the province.
Minister Guilbeault recalled that the Government of Quebec had made a commitment in 2016 to implement a recovery plan for caribou populations which continue to decline and that in 2022, it had committed in a joint letter with Ottawa to submit a plan to maintain at least 65% of caribou habitat undisturbed and to consult indigenous populations.
If adopted by Cabinet, the decree will be subject to a 60-day consultation. Quebec will therefore have two months to present a plan to protect caribou habitat.
