jfm1330 wrote: Surprisingly, there is an article in the Journal de Montreal newspaper today where Paul Levesque is pleading for global actions on climate change and covid. A bit surprising from the CEO of a biopharma, and former manager at the big pharma Pfizer, but I agree with him on everything he says. For our American friend, Canada and Quebec are much more to the left than you are in the US. Bernie Sanders would be a centrist politician here. So Paul is just in line with the mainstream here. The only problem is the fact that the province of Quebec is a very minor player and even if our government would be perfect on the environment, it would not change much on the global picture. That being said, it is a good thing to hear this message from a businessman even though he says he is expressing himself as a citizen. Here is the Google translated version of the article.
The environment must be the priority of elected officials Cry from the heart of the big boss of Theratechnologies who says he is worried about climate change
JEAN-MICHEL GENOIS GAGNON
Saturday, 22 January 2022 00:00
UPDATE Saturday, 22 January 2022 00:00
The CEO of the biopharmaceutical company Theratechnologies asks the Legault government to review its priorities. According to him, climate change should be on the radar of officials more than a $10 billion highway tunnel.
In a letter sent to the Journal, Paul Levesque launched a “cry from the heart” as a citizen and wondered: “until when will the planet tolerate us? »
The president believes that Quebec and Canada, as well as all the other countries, would do well to take notes on the global management of the pandemic.
“We are all in the same boat right now,” he told the Journal, deploring the fact that several governments have worked in “compartment” in their fight against COVID-19.
Result: the vaccination rate is lower in the poorest places. A situation that is hampering the global battle against the pandemic.
“We wonder why we are not getting out of the pandemic, but we have to find a way to treat people in Africa,” he says.
"If we want to get out of it, we need global solutions and not individual solutions," he adds.
The CEO concedes that the biopharmaceutical industry also has a role to play in facilitating access to medicines for the poorest countries.
“Overconsumption”
Mr. Levesque says that climate change must also be treated as a global issue, just like a pandemic. The poorest countries should already have easier access to technological tools for sustainable development.
The CEO also deplores the fact that economic models, like that of Quebec, lead to a certain “overconsumption”.
“We are still looking for growth and low unemployment. I have been working in the field of pharmacology for 36 years. I am a business manager. That's all very well, but it is done to the detriment of ecology, of the planet, ”he underlines.
“The model that we have of economic growth, it compromises a little the continuation of the things. The next generation will have a hard time keeping up. The poor will find it difficult to follow,” he warns.
Better deploy resources
According to Mr. Levesque, the government should put at the top of its priorities "the waste water that we throw into the river, the greenhouse gases that our vehicles and industries generate, the urban sprawl promoted by real estate builders , regulations against plastic and its derivatives”.
The businessman finds it hard to understand the fact that in 2022 some Quebec municipalities continue to dump their wastewater into the St. Lawrence River. A gesture, he says, that undermines the efforts of others.
To improve the fate of the planet, the CEO advocates the idea that Quebec deploy even more resources to resolve certain issues. He is also in favor of an additional tax for more polluting vehicles.
“But no more officials to manage the purchase of a pipeline, the construction of a tunnel in Quebec and the return of the Expos or the Nordiques, no thank you! “, he wrote in his letter.
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2022/01/22/lenvironnement-doit-etre-la-priorite-des-elus