In May 2011, the Jean Charest Liberal government announced with great fanfare the $80 billion Plan Nord. Plan Nord’s objective is to develop and protect Quebec’s North, i.e., the 1.2 million km² north of the 49^th parallel (72% of Quebec’s territory). There was quite a bit of interest and excitement when it was announced. This quickly abated once it was clear that the plan was short on detail.

In April 2015, the Philippe Couillard Liberal government produced a more sober version of the Plan Nord. Plan Nord 2.0 had many of the same long-term objectives, but the timelines and budgets were less ambitious.

While the Plan Nord has not made many headlines in recent years, the Société du Plan Nord, created by statute to implement the Plan Nord, has been quietly fulfilling its mandate.

It now appears that the Francois Legault CAQ government will announce its own iteration of the Plan Nord this fall in an effort to help the Quebec economy recover from the effects of Covid-19. While the contents of Plan Nord 3.0 have not been announced, one can anticipate that it will include additional spending for infrastructure and investments in natural resource projects as well as measures to speed up the approval of such projects.

The original Plan Nord envisioned, among other things, the protection in one way or another of 50% of the Plan Nord territory. This objective was to be reached by 2035. This was a very bold initiative as it covers an area larger than France and one that would make Quebec a world leader in the protection of its territory.

It is hoped that Plan Nord 3.0 will at a minimum reaffirm the 50% by 2035 commitment and even accelerate the rate at which new territory is protected. There is doubt within the electorate as to whether the government of Francois Legault is committed to the environment and this would be an easy way to assuage concerns on this issue.

One possible side benefit from Quebec protecting 50% of its territory is that it would serve as an example that Canada could then emulate in its three territories. As global warming accelerates, the Canadian Arctic will become more easily accessible, including for transiting between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Canada currently has difficulty enforcing its sovereignty in the Arctic and most countries, including the US, invoke freedom of navigation in order to ignore Canadian sovereignty. Perhaps if much of the Arctic is a protected zone, Canada will have a more effective instrument with which to enforce its sovereignty. At least it would say that its sovereignty is exercised for the benefit of humanity rather than just for Canada.