Denis Lebel is Canada’s Minister for Infrastructure and Communities. He is also the “political minister” for Prime Minister Stephen Harper who — I feel silly for pointing it out — leads the Conservative Party of Canada which is dedicated to preserving and enhancing a Canada which includes Quebec.
And yet, once upon a time, Lebel was member of the separatist Bloc Quebecois. For eight years, from 1993 to 2001. But then his politics changed. His job did, too. In 2000, he was elected mayor of Roberval, up near Lac St. Jean. And in 2004, 2005, and in 2006 he kicked in cash to the Quebec Liberal Party. Then in 2007, he won a federal byelection, picking up a seat — Roberval-Lac St. Jean — that had been held by the BQ. His political contributions to Quebec provincial parties stopped — until last year when he kicked in $100 to the Quebec Liberal Party.
So now we’re into a provincial election in Quebec and most but, not all (see below), federal politicians from Quebec would rather not pick a party.
My Quebec colleagues and I support federalism, @phcouillard and the #QLP.
— Justin Trudeau, MP (@JustinTrudeau) March 13, 2014
Lebel and most Conservatives are among those federal politicians who do not wish to pick a party — but Lebel is also perfectly willing to defend his government’s positions, even if it means going after a combatant in the current provincial election. Example? This e-mail went out under Lebel’s name this evening:
The Allegations
Earlier today in Bellechasse, Pauline Marois’ Parti Québécois accused the federal government of under-investing in Québec’s forestry sector.
The Facts
- Forest management is first and foremost a provincial matter.
- However, where we can act, we do.
- Our Government has made key investments in the forestry sector so that it can modernize itself, develop new products and continue to create good-paying jobs in Québec.
- In fact, no federal government in Canada’s history has done as much as we have to support the economy of Québec regions that depend on the forestry sector.
- Since 2008, the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED-Q) has invested over $150M for reforestation, silvicultural and forest access projects, which had never been done before my arrival at CED-Q.
- Partly through the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec’s Forest Economies, CED-Q invested another $150M for projects in the lumber industry as well as to support communities.
- On top of this, Natural Resources Canada has taken a number of unprecedented initiatives to support this sector in Québec, investing over $300M through the Expanding Market Opportunities Program, the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program or the Forest Innovation Program.
- In Budget 2014, we have invested another $90.4 million over four years to continue to support the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program and yet another $18M to prevent the spread of spruce budworm in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.
- Our Government is also working hard to open new markets for our lumber products, including key free trade agreements with the European Union and, even more recently, the Republic of Korea.
- Finally, one must remember that it is our Government which struck the Softwood Lumber Agreement with the United State – a deal that brought back billions of dollars into the Canadian industry.
In Summary
Since 2006, the Government of Canada has invested over 1,7 billions of dollars in the forestry sector throughout Canada. Québec’s share of these investments so far represents no less than $642M in order to support the transformation, the competiveness and the sustainability of this sector and of the regions that depend on it in Québec. These are concrete measures, and they make it such that our Government has the best record of any federal government in Canada’s history.