Dreaming of a green budget

Tuesday, November 20 is Budget Day in Quebec.

Equiterre, Vivre en Ville and the David Suzuki Foundation have some suggestions for making this a green budget with a social justice bent, including micro clean energy projects, model neighbourhoods, and penalties for consumers who buy inefficient new vehicles.

Here are some highlights.

Invest in:

Renewable energy 

• Feed-in tariff program – a support program that encourages citizens and organizations to develop micro renewable energy projects, to diversify energy sources and support the regions (amount to be determined)

Urban planning 

• Ongoing support for social and co-operative housing ($700M)
• Technical support for municipalities ($5M)
• Improve financial support programs for densification and revitalization ($50M)
• Support the creation of model neighbourhoods ($50M)

Public transit

• Double public transit service by 2030 ($600M)
• Increase support for pubic transit operations ($130M)
• Support the establishment of a modern, inclusive fare system ($117M)

Active transportation

• Finance the development of the utility biking infrastructure ($10M)
• Support the implementation of bike-sharing programs across Quebec ($7M)

Transportation demand

• Educate the public about sustainable transportation ($10M)
• Support transportation management associations ($10M)

Sustainable agriculture, food

• Organic farming as an agri-environmental measure (to be determined)
• Additional support for organic farmers ($3.25M)
• A fund for the protection against contamination by GMOs ($0M)
• Support for individual and institutional consumers ($2.5M)

Make money from:

Transportation funding

• Increase royalities payable on petroleum ($200M)
• Give municipalities the right to tax gasoline to finance the development of public transit and active transportation (to be determined)
• Extend the commercial parking tax ($375M)

Road Capacity management

• Slow increase of number of trips, commuters ($1000M)

Improved vehicle performance

• Establish a penalty scheme for the purchase of new, inefficient vehicles ($240M) 

To consult the document in full: 

Green budget proposal (in French only)

Pictured: A solar panel at a private residence in rural Ontario – an example of the province's microFIT program, which encourages homeowners to create clean energy and feed it into the system. Quebec environmentalists would like to see Quebec set up a similar program.