Quebec wants to rectify the situation to speed up wetland restoration and creation. Environment Secretary Benoit Charette is due to announce this Friday a review of his program, which to date is worth $113 million but just under 3% has been spent since 2017.
Posted at 5:00 am
The minister’s announcement is intended to spur demand for wetland restoration and creation projects in the province. To date, just over $3.7 million has been allocated for such projects, including $807,767 for pre-feasibility studies.
La Presse revealed last October that Quebec had raised nearly $100 million in compensation for wetland destruction and that only 2.6% of that funding had been reinvested in wetland restoration or creation.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
Wetland site approved in Laval last October
Since June 2017, the Wetlands and Water Protection Act provides for financial compensation to be paid when a promoter receives permission to fill wetlands to carry out a project. These amounts are paid into the State Fund for the Protection of the Environment and Water Resources.
The law has a goal of avoiding no net loss of wetlands, but does not set a deadline for achieving that goal.
Quebec funded up to $25,000 for pre-feasibility studies and up to $1 million for wetland restoration or creation projects. These maximums are revised upwards to $75,000 and $3 million, respectively.
Projects can now be submitted at any time, not just at specific times, as has been the case since the program began.
More changes to come
Environment, Climate Change Action, Wildlife and Parks Minister Benoit Charette said he had consulted several community stakeholders to gather their grievances about the wetland and water restoration and creation scheme.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Benoit Charette, Minister for the Environment
“We come with solid material that has been validated. We know that with the new criteria we introduce, we open up new possibilities. But if we may need to further promote the opportunities with a particular region, we will do so. But we clearly live up to the expectations that have been placed on us,” he said in an interview with La Presse.
However, the minister says he is aware that this overhaul of the program will not solve all problems. It promises adjustments to meet the statutory goal of no net loss of wetlands.
“We arrive with important corrective actions, but recognize that we are not fixing everything. We have a particular dynamic in areas that are heavily urbanized. We will continue to explore how to answer this question. So there will probably be more changes,” says Benoit Charette.
“A not inconsiderable pot”
Last December, the minister said he was ready to review the wetlands regulation to prevent further loss in certain regions. “In even more vulnerable regions I mentioned Laval, Montreal and Montérégie, in urban centers I asked if we could not adapt the regulations specifically for these areas so that there are no more casualties,” he told La Presse.
“We didn’t want to wait until we had answers to all situations before we already corrected the possible deficiencies,” Mr Charette said on Thursday.
The minister says he has no targets for the number of projects that would be approved or the amounts of money that would be allocated by March 31, 2025, the deadline for submitting a funding application.
But he reiterates his goal: the funds raised must be used to fund wetland restoration or creation projects.
It was never our intention to turn this into a consolidated fund, for which we have no concrete results to present.
Benoit Charette, Minister for the Environment
“Without a case, it’s still a non-negligible pot accumulated by the royalty system,” acknowledges Benoit Charette.
However, the sums collected, which will continue to accumulate, may not be enough to meet demand, according to several experts.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
Alain Branchaud, Director General of the Nature and Parks Society
“This is greenwashing,” said the general director of the Society for Nature and Parks, Alain Branchaud, in an interview with La Presse last October. In his opinion, the current system doesn’t work because it doesn’t take into account the real costs to society when wetlands are destroyed.
According to Anne-Sophie Doré, a lawyer at the Center Québécois du droit de l’environnement, the value of wetland ecosystem services is not taken into account when calculating compensation in Quebec.
Learn more
382 hectares Since 2017, $113 million has been raised to offset the destruction of 382 hectares of wetlands in the province.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Fighting Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
$14 billion In Ontario, the government estimates that southern Ontario’s wetlands generate $14 billion in “economic benefits” to people each year.
Source: Ontario Department of Environment