Quebec refuses to take part in caribou consultations [Video]

Quebec says it will not take part in consultation meetings surrounding the drafting of a possible emergency decree to protect the caribou.

In a six-page letter sent on Wednesday to Canadian Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault, Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette and Natural Resources and Quebec Forestry Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina reiterated that the emergency decree announced by Ottawa last month represents a “unilateral and illegitimate decision by the federal government, which is categorically rejected by Quebec.”

Ottawa’s move “constitutes an unspeakable affront and runs counter to respect for the constitutional division of powers between the two levels of government,” according to the ministers.

Not only will Quebec not participate in the consultations, but “the federal government will have to fully assume the economic and social consequences of its decision,” the ministers argue.

Among these consequences, the province estimates that there could be “a loss of at least 2,000 jobs in …