Why politicians make terrible environmentalists
Was the decision to destroy the Monarch fields a fait accompli?
By Richard Swift
October 4, 2021
As we moved through the recent Federal election cycle, potential voters were bombarded by the ‘concern’ of politicians for the environment. Almost all parties dressed themselves up in their best green clothes to impress the electorate at a time when anyone of minimal intelligence knows that our species is facing a disaster of cascading ecological crises underpinned by the threat of massive climate degradation. Something (a lot of things actually) needs to be done.
Yet, despite the rhetoric, ecological health continues to be a mere ‘factor’ in economic decision-making rather than the absolute priority it needs to be. So issues like preserving and enhancing green space, sustaining endangered species, husbanding precious resources, dramatically cutting (rather than simply promising distant future cuts) carbon emissions are carefully weighed up as simply one set of variables amongst many in making investment decisions. They are balanced against criteria of growth and profitability so as not to offend the corporate power holders that swing so much weight in our society. Placed in this context, dramatic action or even coherent environmental regulation quickly falls way down the list of policy criteria.
… despite the rhetoric, ecological health continues to be a mere ‘factor’ in economic decision-making rather than the absolute priority it needs to be.
This greenwashing approach to justifying distinctly anti-ecological investment decisions spreads across the political spectrum from Right to Left. Whether it’s the NDP’s failure to protect old-growth forests in British Columbia, the Conservatives championing Alberta’s dirty oil sands and its many spinoffs, or Liberal waffling over everything from pipelines to underwriting the mad search for more fossil fuel projects. Yet, all these parties would have us believe that they are the only true guardians of the environment.
Image: Markus Spiske from Pexels
We have an excellent example of this enviro-duplicity right here in Montreal. For months now, a campaign has been waged to protect precious monarch butterfly habitat in the large ‘Technoparc‘ green space neighbouring Montreal’s Trudeau Airport. By some strange quirk of regulatory politics, this vital green space is under the control of the airport authority through a lease although the federal government is the true owner. In post-pandemic times, the authority is hungry for revenue and has plans to itself further lease out this precious ecological resource to developers, starting with what has come to be known as the ‘Monarch fields.’ The pushback from neighbouring communities, environmental groups and voices in the media has been fierce. So much so that the Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) has been forced into delaying the final decision of turning the fields over to the corporate lessee – a subsidiary of Medicom Group, True North Innovative Non-Woven Materials Inc. Then came a spate of elections both federal and municipal.
‘By some strange quirk of regulatory politics, this vital green space [Monarch fields] is under the control of the airport authority through a lease although the federal government is the true owner.’
Enter seven-term Lac-Saint-Louis MP Frank Scarpaleggia. In a post-election interview, Scarpaleggia gave away the plot on the controversial surrender of part of the Technoparc (known as the Monarch fields) by Montreal’s Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) to the corporate developers. In his victory lap interview in the Montreal Gazette on September 30, Scarpaleggia, while championing Liberal environmental achievements, let slip that the decision to destroy this habitat was a fait accompli. He went on to provide the usual laundry list of justifications including ‘expert opinion’ and amelioration through replanting milkweed while stating baldly that “the airport authority had to destroy some habitat to make room for a construction project.” So much for due process and taking official responsibility for decisions.
The movement to save the Monarch fields now needs to gather itself to ward off future corporate giveaways by Aéroports de Montréal, which would eventually destroy the entire wetland green space in Dorval. It is a sad irony that such anti-environmental decisions get taken in the context of politicians puffing on about being champions of the environment. In trying to be everything to everybody, you end up being nothing to anybody. And those with the financial clout continue to get their own way.
‘The movement to save the Monarch fields now needs to gather itself to ward off future corporate giveaways by Aéroports de Montréal, which would eventually destroy the entire wetland green space in Dorval.’
So what are we to take from Mr. Scarpaleggia’s interview? Was the fix always in? Were those of us trying to save the Monarch habitat just howling at the moon? The only definitive proof of this will be a serious decision by all involved to embrace ecological sanity and preserve this precious piece of habitat for the endangered butterflies.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.
Feature image: Mark Dixon via StockPholio.net (modified)
Read other articles about the environment
Richard Swift is an author and writer for the New Internationalist magazine of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Short-term thinking is a hallmark of right-leaning politicians and their ilk–although it is never phased as such, swimming as we are in the sea of capitalist profit motive. So it is that, in a time of global climate crisis and mass species extinction, insect Armageddon, topped by a viral pandemic–itself caused by anthropogenic destruction of ecosystems–that our local politicians have decided to build a mask-making facility on one of Montreal island’s last remaining ecosystems able to support the last struggling population of iconic monarch butterflies. How dystopian. Surreal. Almost tragi-comic. But I am not laughing.
Very good article…The conclusion tells us what need to seek and to bring about: “embrace ecological sanity and preserve this precious piece of habitat for the endangered butterflies.” It is now up to us, the citizens, to see that the right thing is done with the Technoparc wetlands, the fields and the butterflies.
When it comes to protecting the environment and wild species, politicians are far from being our most effective line of defense. Given our environmental history and how our political system works, we should finally recognize that it is unrealistic for us to expect our elected officials to put wildlife and the environment before the economic, and thus political objectives, of their party. What we can, and should do, is insist that our elected officials serve their constituents “first” by giving them the tools, meaning laws, to make the changes we so desperately need. We must resist the habit of placing an economic value on everything. This practice has seen us lose or fragment sensitive habitats such as the Monarch fields, zone 1002 in ANWR and so many others. In Canada, we go so far as to protect a species at risk, while excluding it’s habitat (Western Orca Population). Globally, we have lost 60% of our known wildlife species in just under 50 years. The loss of habitats are primary reasons, followed by hunting programs and governing mindsets. Secondly we must stop de-sensitizing our youth by encouraging them to hunt at an early age and suggesting that some species have a greater value then others. Until we change our approach, we simply turn in endless circles.
My takeaway from this excellent article is that Libs (Scarpaleggia & Trudeau) have fallen down on the job – delay, avoid and utter mealy mouthed excuses which I for one, do not accept. The ADM and Medicom Group have also to answer for the outrageous roadblock. Surely a mask factory can locate anywhere!
Everything possible has been done by so many in an attempt to save this small environmentally precious piece of land. It is now up to the powers that be to do the right thing. Otherwise, shame on all of you!