During the electoral campaign, the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, was committed to respecting Quebec consensus in the environment, just like the Quebec Bloc, the new Democratic Party and the Green Party of Canada. Our organizations congratulate all the deputies elected to the House of Commons and reach out to them to advance infrastructure projects which would truly improve the well-being of Canadians.
Infrastructure to succeed in the transition
The environmental crisis remains the greatest challenge of our time: its extremely concrete effects already affect us in several spheres of our lives and will only get worse in the future.
The good news is that the solutions that make it possible to deal with climate change and the decline of biodiversity are also good to tackle other questions that concern citizens, such as the cost of living, and housing, for example, since Canada is experiencing a serious housing crisis.
Think together accommodation and transport
During the electoral campaign, the new Prime Minister undertook to “make generational investments in housing to double the pace of construction and to lower the cost of houses, rents and mortgage payments”. We can only invite him to act quickly in this sense.
Indeed, more and more Canadians can no longer be housed at affordable prices, and the impact of the price of housing on the cost of living is a strong concern for many. Building a strong and resilient country requires that this crisis is answered. To get there, you have to increase the construction of housing of any type: affordable, non -profit, private, family, for the elderly, etc.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Company saying that residential construction will have to be tripled to reconnect with affordability, a major project is to be expected, which will boost the economy and create sustainable jobs. But let’s not forget that the dwellings that are built today must not only do not worsen the ongoing environmental crises, but also help the population to deal with the increasingly frequent heat waves, fires and floods.
How ? By focusing on housing that will make it possible to consume less energy, reducing household electricity bills while reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, developing neighborhoods that include proximity services and shops, in which people can move on foot, by bicycle or in public transport or shared transport, which also helps to improve air quality.
When we build affordable and effective buildings on the energy level or develop collective and active transport, facilitating travel at a lower cost, there is at the same time a real estate development on a human scale, which also promotes the Health of our living environments – and by the very fact that of citizens. And we also facilitate resilience and adaptation in the face of climate change that weakens our infrastructure, which also allows an agile and resilient economy.
To achieve this, the government should therefore double the sums invested in the Canada’s public transport fund, not only to double the number of new projects, but also to allow transport companies to use this money for the maintenance of existing infrastructure, whose dilapidation threatens the reliability and comfort of millions of trips.
Towards a first budget
Residential construction and its planning will have to become much more effective and ecological, and we are convinced that Prime Minister Carney is well aware of this, he who was recently sitting within the working group for the home and the climate, which aims for millions of future units “affordable, resilient to climatic impacts and aligned with net zero pollution objective policies.
The new Prime Minister has attached major importance to investment in infrastructure in its electoral platform. His first budget will have to send a convincing signal by funding the essential sites to build a strong and resilient Canada.
* Costided this letter: Andréanne Brazeau, David Suzuki Foundation; Sandrine Cabana-Degani, Quebec pedestrians; Véronique Fournier, urban ecology center; Cyril Frazao, Quebec Public Health Association; Marie-Sun won, viable transport access; Simon Guiroy, a student front of climate action; Anne-Céline Guyon, Nature Quebec; Sophie-Laurence H. Lauzon, network of women in the environment; Philippe Jacques, Quebec trajectory; Sarah-Katherine Lutz, Youth environment; Karel Ménard, Quebec Common Front for ecological waste management; France Pomminville, Climatic reality Canada; Thibault Rehn, vigilance GMO; Jean-François Rheault, Vélo Québec; Blandine Sebileau, Equiterre; Gabrielle Spenard-Bernier, mothers at the front; Rodrigue Turgeon, Coalition Quebec Best Mine; Martin Vaillancourt, national grouping of the Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec; André Bélanger, Rivières Foundation.
