New report reveals Quebec not prepared to face extreme weather

Devastating forest fires, destructive ice storms, massive flooding and even tornadoes: 2023 was marked by extreme weather events in Quebec and experts say we can expect more.

The question is: is Quebec ready to face them?

“In general, we as a society are not adapted,” said Alain Bourque, the executive director of Ouranos, an environment and climate research non-profit.

It’s why the Quebec government commissioned Bourque and a team of more than a dozen science and climate experts to look into what the province could do to improve its response to climate change.

In its report, the group named five major priorities, which include helping to preserve the natural environment.

If forest fires last year taught us anything, Bourque says, it’s that the province needs to plant more and diverse trees to make its forests more resilient.

“If we do not help the forest to adapt to a new changing climate it will just go in decline, become more and more vulnerable to diseases,” Bourque said.

Bourque says the province also needs to build houses that are in zones that won’t flood and generally build new infrastructure that can withstand longer heat waves and more intense rain storms.

“Even though the science of climate change is clear and we know the climate is going to change, there is still infrastructure that is being built today with the climate of the past,” Bourque said.

Bourque says that it’s urgent the province implements these strategies or risk more destruction.

“The amplitude of the impacts of climate change are just going to increase exponentially,” Bourque said.

Quebec’s environment minister, Benoit Charette, told Global News in a statement that the report’s findings will help Quebec better adapt to climate change.

“Our government is acting on several fronts and is investing record amounts of money to adapt and ensure a resilient and prosperous climate transition,” Charette wrote.

The minister added that $1.8 billion is being invested in the fight against climate change.