Week of November 26, 2009, Issue #736
FRONT
News roundup: QUEBEC GOES VERT
Quebec separated from Canada on at least one important issue this week: greenhouse gases. Citing worries over trade relations with green-hungry Europe, Premier Jean Charest announced that the province will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels.
The ambitious plan, which would give La Belle Province the lowest level of emissions per person in all of North America, will focus on investment in public transportation and regulation on automobile emissions similar to those introduced in California to help reach the target, although it already has a head-start: thanks to its reliance on hydropower, Quebec is already the lowest greenhouse gas emitter in the country. Regardless, the plan does help Quebec stick out from the rest of Canada: only Ontario and British Columbia have similar emission targets, at 15 and 14 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 respectively, while the Canadian government has pledged to reduce the country's emissions by three percent, facts the Quebec government said it would trumpet at the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen.
Social Bookmarking
Got something to say? Send a letter to the editor.
letters@vueweekly.com