Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s ultimatum to the Quebec government on caribou protection is a sign Ottawa is losing patience with provinces that aren’t upholding their responsibility to protect wildlife, experts say.
Rachel Plotkin, a caribou expert with the David Suzuki Foundation, says Guilbeault’s threat to unilaterally create protected habitat in Quebec for declining herds is a "shot across the bow" that shows Ottawa is ready to get tough after years of playing nice.
"This shows that the federal government is tired of waiting for provinces to do the right thing their patience is being tapped out," she said. He stressed that he was still hoping to reach an agreement with Quebec that would avoid the need for a decree. "If the federal minister is willing to enter into this kind of potentially contentious situation with Quebec, then the minister is willing to do it potentially anywhere," Kerr said in a recent interview.
Guilbeault said Thursday that the protection order would cover about 35,000 square kilometres in Quebec. The entirety of the land wouldn't necessarily need to be left untouched, he said, but "additional measures" would need to be put in place to ensure caribou survival. But governments have been reluctant to curtail industrial activities such as logging, which have replaced older trees with younger ones and created trails that allow predators easy access to prey on the caribou. In order to protect the caribou, there's no doubt industrial work in their territory would need to be significantly reduced, Kerr said.
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