A committee of experts is calling for a moratorium on urban sprawl in Quebec

In an opinion to the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, published on Monday, the Advisory Committee on Climate Change supports that a moratorium on the loss of natural environments is necessary. It based its recommendations on the latest disturbing UN report on climate change.

The Committee is particularly concerned about the fact that the surface area of ​​natural environments in southern Quebec is declining at a rate of 0.6% per year.

Sometimes we make decisions gradually and we see the impact of the combination of all these strategieslamented Alain Webster, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Climate Change and full professor of environmental economics at the University of Sherbrooke, in an interview with All one morning, Monday.

” If we look at the whole of St. Lawrence Valley, for a dozen years, the Statistical Institute of Quebec tells us that we artificially created a territory equal to the size of the island of Laval. “

You have to be careful, because it complicates life and makes it difficult to achieve the climate componentargument of Mr. Webster.

Beyond the protection of natural environments, the Committee considers that motorway capacity should no longer be increased in the six major urban regions, until a public review mechanism has been established to consider mobility. , town planning and the supply of transportation. .

When we do highway projects, whether in Montreal, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, or Quebec City, in every instance, you have to think about the long-term implications in terms of development. We are not doing it rightexplanation by Alain Webster.

The major transportation electrification project is important, but not enoughadded the professor. You need to get out of the fossil part as quickly as possible. We have almost three short decades to get there if we want the temperature rise to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. You need to be carbon neutralhe explains.

A rock in the lake

The opinion published on Monday by the Committee is not intended to take a position on the projects underway, but nevertheless it forms a stone in the hole for the Legault government that is promoting a new Quebec-Lévis tunnel, the third link, which there will be consequences for urban sprawl.

Recall that at the end of April, the Order of Urban Planners denounced the CAQ government speech on the third link. President Sylvain Gariépy criticized Minister Benoit Charette for his assertion that the construction of a tunnel between Quebec and Lévis constitutes a brake on urban sprawl.

However, the consensus of experts is that increasing road capacity is a strong incentive for the spread and use of vehicles.wrote to Mr. Gariépy.

The opinion of the Advisory Committee on Climate Change goes exactly in this direction, warning against a dated territorial planning approach, which does not match the environmental challenges that cities and governments must face today.

The classic example is obviously the road section. We will build a set of roads that will encourage people to bring their car to travel further, increase urban sprawl, increase the distance they will travel to school, to workexplained Mr. Webster.

Not because people want to take their car, […] but we spurred a very strong demand because we designed our ground management systems around the car to meet our needsHe added.

We realize that on the issue of climate, it must change. We need to find ways to redevelop our cities so that, voluntarily, it will be convenient to ride public transport, to ride active transportation.

Several ministries are involved

For Alain Webster, the Committee is clear was addressed to the minister in his role in coordinating government action on climate change.

So he hopes the message will also reach other ministries, especially Municipal Affairs, where Minister Andrée Laforest is currently leading the long -awaited National Policy on Architecture and Land Use Planning.

It’s been a long time since we last updated this policy. He is importantsaid Mr. Webster. A few months before the election, we expect the reflection process to be quite lengthy. But this first step is importanthe said.

We tell ourselves that we must adequately incorporate this climate issue into these decision -making processes and bring it back to the local level. Cities play an important role.

With information from Samuel Rancourt, Carla Oliveira and The Canadian Press