Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette responds to the Opposition during question period on May 23 at the legislature in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
In the past decade, Quebec approved nearly every single residential, industrial and road development project in habitats where at-risk plant species are found, according to data obtained by The Globe and Mail. The province has yet to ask for any financial compensation from developers.
The data, acquired by The Globe through an access-to-information request with Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment, include 126 instances where developers asked the province to authorize a project that “alters the habitat of a threatened or vulnerable plant species” between August, 2012, and March, 2022.
One request was cancelled and one received a preliminary notice of refusal, but none were refused, according to ministry official Tamima Derhem Gosselin. Ministry spokesperson Bernadette Irwin said one other application, listed as approved in the data, was later refused, meaning at least 123 out of 126 applications, or 98 per cent, were approved.
Approving virtually all applications to destroy species-at-risk habitat in Quebec is shameful, said Anna Hargreaves, an associate professor of biology at McGill University. “It suggests that our current government is not interested in protecting Quebec’s species at risk.”
Saving species at the edge of extinction
Ms. Irwin said that, although most projects were approved, some “have been modified to limit the impacts of their activities on threatened or vulnerable plant species.”
Since June, 2021, the provincial Act Respecting Threatened or Vulnerable Species provides that the minister may, among other conditions, require applicants to “pay financial compensation that corresponds to the sums necessary to offset any adverse effects on threatened or vulnerable plant species or on their habitats.”
But Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette did not ask for compensation for any of the 17 development projects he approved after this date. Ms. Irwin said compensation regulations have not yet been enacted, hence “no financial compensation can be demanded at the moment.”
Habitat protection should always come first, according to Prof. Hargreaves, but when destruction of habitat is needed, “not requiring financial compensation is incomprehensible.”
In a “summary decision sheet” drafted in April, 2022, and shared with The Globe, ministry officials noted that nearly 90 per cent of requests to alter the habitat of a threatened or vulnerable plant species – including more than 200 for development projects – were approved between 2000 and 2021.
The document, initially obtained through an access-to-information request by the Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE), an environmental organization, recommends updating the legislation and drafting the Regulation respecting compensation for damage to threatened or vulnerable plant species.
Several at-risk species were affected by multiple development projects between 2012 and 2022, the data show. The rock elm tree (Ulmus thomasii) – which is designated as threatened, the direst status under Quebec law – was found in 11 of the approved projects. By the government’s own account, urban and agricultural development are among the main threats to its survival.
The American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), a perennial herb also listed as threatened in Quebec – and endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act – was affected by eight projects. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the loss and degradation of its habitat threaten its survival, and the species is now concentrated in the Montérégie region, “where development pressures are constantly increasing.” Five of the eight projects approved in its habitat were in this region.
Ms. Irwin, of the ministry, said both natural and man-made causes can threaten plants. “Thus, species management goes further than compliance with prohibitions and the administration of authorization requests, it must target threats to the survival of the species,” she said.
The black maple (Acer nigrum), listed as vulnerable under Quebec law, was the species most affected by development, with 30 projects encroaching on its habitat. The main threats to this tree, the ministry says, include urban expansion and road construction.
Most projects were authorized in the province’s southern regions, where biodiversity is both richer and under the most pressure from development.
Cities including Montreal (5 projects), Trois-Rivières (4 projects), Gatineau (3 projects) and Lévis (3 projects), were collectively responsible for 21 cases of habitat alteration.
At least 12 projects affecting at-risk plant species were authorized at the request of Quebec’s Ministry of Transportation between 2014 and 2022, making it the entity responsible for the highest number of cases.
Ministry spokesperson Gilles Payer said that when the impacts on plant species with a precarious status cannot be avoided, it can be offset “by planting and relocation effectively contributes to the survival of the affected populations.” He said all but one of the Ministry of Transportation’s projects included such measures.
But Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) spokesperson Alain Branchaud said moving protected species around led to high rates of mortality, including for the American ginseng. Mr. Branchaud, who is also a biologist, said that whole habitats should be protected to safeguard biodiversity, not only individual plants.
The individual responsible for the highest number of cases is Dominic Senécal, a biologist who was granted 11 authorizations for consulting firm WSP (formerly Genivar) and, since 2021, for a company named Évolution Environnement, where he is the director. Most of his projects were in Laval and affected the black maple tree.
Mr. Senécal said his role was to be a “transmission belt” of information between his clients and the ministry, which makes the call on whether to authorize a project. “The ministry plays its role very well in analyzing applications. These are not people who do this in a hurry, they ask a lot of questions,” he said in an interview.
Asked whether authorizing so many projects in sensitive areas was compatible with conservation goals, Mr. Senécal said “I don’t have the answer.”