Hundreds of people hit the streets Saturday afternoon to encourage political leaders to make the environment a priority in their electoral platforms.
“We’ve called a large demonstration because we want to get the politicians’ attention,” said organizer Nathalie Roy. “So little has been said about the environment in this campaign, and we realized it’s our greatest challenge right now.”
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Demonstrators, young and old, met at the Montreal Science Centre in the Old Port and marched their way to Mount Royal Park.
“We’re seeing real consequences (of climate change),” said Roy. “Since the beginning of the summer, we’ve had eight heat waves, we’ve had 90 deaths and nobody is saying anything. What’s it going to take?”
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Organizers argue the environment is facing a crisis, and though some parties in Quebec have made environmental commitments, they have not been strong enough.
“We can talk about health, we can talk about education, that’s great. But if our planet becomes uninhabitable, nothing else really matters,” she said.
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Roy hopes that the rally, which took place Saturday, will be the first of many.
“We hope it’ll snowball,” said Roy. “There’s a rally tomorrow in Quebec City. On Oct. 8, there’s going to be a march for climate in Montreal.
“Let’s have everybody join us.”
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