Steven Guilbeault is the federal minister of environment and climate change.

Canadians are nature-loving people. Many of us have found some deep connection with a natural space in this vast and beautiful country. We make that connection close to home through walks in the woods, a stroll along a riverbank or a visit to a tide pool. Some of us go further to seek out Canada’s awe-inspiring mountains, waterfalls and old-growth trees or paddle our lakes and coastlines.

Growing up in a small town in northern Quebec, the forest was my backyard and playground. I realized my own life mission as an environmental activist, when at the age of five, I climbed a tree to protect my backyard forest from developers.

Nature is core to Canadians’ identity — what we are known for around the world and a source of national pride.

But nature everywhere is under siege. This month, the Living Planet Report 2022 from the World Wildlife Fund catalogued how global wildlife populations have declined by 69 per cent since 1970, including 20 per cent in North America.

According to the federal Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development, Canada not only has the world’s longest coastline, we also boast 25 per cent of the world’s boreal forest, 25 per cent of the world’s temperate forests, 25 per cent of the world’s wetlands, two million lakes and the third-largest area of glaciers on the planet.

So it is fitting that this December, Canada will host the largest United Nations biodiversity conference in a generation to tackle the serious challenges facing the natural world. Our mission is guided by progress, protection and partnership.

The 15th annual Convention of Parties (COP15) will see thousands of foreign delegates from 196 countries gathering in Montreal to make new commitments on the protection of nature and species at risk worldwide.

Temperate rainforests, such as B.C.’s Goat River valley, store carbon and shelter a myriad species at risk of extinction. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Progress cannot come fast enough. A million species are at risk of extinction. Natural ecosystems are disappearing, threatening freshwater supplies and the climate. Protecting nature and reducing emissions to fight climate change are interconnected. The call to protect nature must receive the same attention as does the climate. 

At home, we’re driving progress to reach our commitment of protecting 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030. It’s ambitious, but when you look at what we’ve already done on oceans — going from less than one per cent protected in 2015 when we took office to over 14 per cent today — I know we can make it happen. To get there, we have launched the greatest conservation campaign in the country’s history, fueled by multi-billion dollar investments available to the provinces and territories.

We’re also going to be stepping up our ambition on the protection of key, iconic species that are important to our ecosystems, to our communities and to who we are as Canadians. We know caribou protections can wait no longer. We’re reintroducing plains bisons to Banff National Park. As we come up to the international conference in Montreal, we’ll have lots more to say. 

And finally, we’ll continue to do all of our work in partnership with Indigenous communities, walking this shared path together. Indigenous Peoples must be partners from the outset, both at home and internationally — something that was not always the case in the past.

Canada has ambitious goals for the conference, just as we do domestically.

First, is to get all countries to commit to halting and reversing the loss of nature to make the world nature positive by 2030.

Second, to get commitments to conserve 30 per cent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030, which scientific research shows is the minimum necessary to address the biodiversity and climate crises. The largest geographic countries, which harbor vast natural landscapes essential to regulating our climate and the home to many species, are vital in this effort.

Third, we need to mobilize resources to achieve this from the government, the private sector,  philanthropy and multilateral institutions. 

These three goals can only be realized if everyone around the world joins us.

Nature knows no boundaries — not local, not provincial or territorial and not international. We are all in this together.

The Montreal conference is Canada’s chance to show the world we can and will do our part from coast-to-coast-to-coast and to urge the world to join us in protecting nature for a truly sustainable future.

From Nova Scotia’s smallest honeybee to the mighty B.C. red pine, nature is part of who we are. It’s under threat. 

Let’s save nature so it can save us. 

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Steven Guilbeault is co-founder and president of Equiterre, a Quebec-based social and environmental solutions non-profit supporting communities opposed to the expansion of the oilsands and construction of the Energy East pipeline.

I recently attended a luncheon at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, and the speaker was none other than Sophie Brochu, President and CEO of Gaz Métro.

According to Ms. Brochu and contrary to what TransCanada is trying to sell us, the Energy East project, far from being beneficial to Quebec, will have serious economic impacts on top of its enviornmental effects.

Why? Mainly because TransCanada would have to convert one of its lines carrying natural gas from the west to begin transporting oil from the oilsands. TransCanada has propositioned natural gas distributors in Quebec and Ontario to build them a new gas line, but that would cost $2.2 billion in addition to a reduction in the gas transport capacity from western Canada.

This TransCanada decision would have several spin-off effects:

–        Price increases for Gaz Métro customers in Quebec would total $100 million per year, an increase of 155 per cent;

–        As gas in the east will become more limited and expensive, some Gaz Métro customers will likely turn to heavy fuel oil, an extremely hazardous by-product of oil refining;

–        The potential increase in the use of oil would increase greenhouse gases in Quebec by 300,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, increasing local air pollution.

TransCanada has so antagonized Quebec representatives that Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, publicly questioned whether the Energy East project is in the economic interests of Quebec at the conference in front of hundreds of dinner guests.

An environmental group denouncing an Energy East project is nothing new, but I cannot remember the last time a commerce CEO did so.

Ms. Brochu, as the head of Gaz Métro, deserves commendation for bringing the effects Energy East will have on gas consumers to light. But at the same time, it’s worth asking why these considerations weren’t made public by the government of Quebec.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard recently said, "we have to participate in the Canadian economy.” But surely he didn’t mean the Quebec must sacrifice its economic health for provinces like Alberta, or oil and gas companies. Right?

Image Credit: Ecology Ottawa

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.