Latest news with #QCC
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Quebec Liberal leadership race: Charles Milliard shares his ‘big ideas'
Virtual medicine, paying interns and prioritizing small businesses are some of the 'big ideas' Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) leadership hopeful Charles Milliard says he wants to focus on. The pharmacist, former head of Quebec's Chamber of Commerce (QCC) and political neophyte, sat down with CJAD 800 Radio host Elias Makos to make his case about wanting to lead the oldest political party in Quebec. Some answers have been edited for clarity. ELIAS MAKOS: We've invited the candidates to sit down with us, and we've asked them to do one thing: bring us their boldest ideas, their vision for rebuilding the party and reconnecting with Quebecers. We want to shy away from cliches as we introduce these candidates to you. Charles Milliard is in studio. Thank you so much, Mr. Milliard, for coming into studio. Give me the bold idea that when Liberal Party members vote, they're going to check off your name. CHARLES MILLIARD: Well, I'm going to start by saying that my candidacy is, in a way, the boldest idea in this campaign because I'm not a politician. I'm 45 years old. I'm a pharmacist by trade. I used to be CEO of the QCC, as you mentioned, so I'm coming with a new tone, a new type of resume to lead the Liberal Party, the longest-serving party in the history of Quebec. So that, in a nutshell, is the basic line. I would say there are many challenges in Quebec, as you know, I'm going to talk about health care and education. One bold idea that I'm bringing in this campaign is to have access, from a public service perspective, to virtual health care services, telemedicine, 24/7. It has worked for the past years in the private sector. It's time that the public system goes virtual as well, and you know what? It's going to be very helpful for mental health care, precisely. Charles Milliard Quebec Liberal Party leadership candidate Charles Milliard gives remarks during the Quebec Liberal Party French-language leadership debate in Laval, Que., on Saturday, May 3, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press) MAKOS: Give me your vision for that. How does it work? Is it every Quebecer has a Quebec health care app? MILLIARD: I want a hybrid system, like the assurance medicaments, you know, for the medication we take. We're going to let the private do what it does, what it's doing best right now, but I want the public system to have access. I want people to have access to doctors, 24/7, virtually, and it's going to be very helpful in the different regions and rural areas of Quebec, where access to first-line health care professionals is a dire need. MAKOS: This is because you're looking at access to family doctors and how clogged the emergency rooms are. You think that's a benefit here? MILLIARD: I'm a pharmacist, so I know when you're sick, you need to look someone in the eyes and feel that you're being taken care of, whether it's physical or virtual. This is something that I want to implement, and I think there's a lot of interest from doctors as well because they can do that at home. They can do that at any time of the day, and you know what? All the candidates in this race have been agreeing with me, so it's looking good. MAKOS: Let me ask you one thing, though, because it's a great, big, bold idea, but it involves an app. It involves technology, and then my worry is, you're going to get the boys from SAAQclic to come on down and design it, and then it's going to cost billions of dollars with no results. How do you make sure it's not $1.1 billion later, [and it] doesn't work? MILLIARD: What we need to do more is to have, I'm going to say tech geeks, or IT guys and girls, in the Salon Bleu. We need that expertise to be represented in our parliament because obviously, times are changing. We're going to need the help of the private on that area. MAKOS: You have another bold idea here. Hit me with your next bold idea. MILLIARD: It's a long-time request of the different student federations. It's about paying our interns. When it comes to future nurses, future teachers, both from the public and private sectors, I think we need to put our students and future adults in a less precarious financial situation. This has been asked for, for 10 years, and again three weeks ago, [Higher Education] Minister [Pascale] Déry said she's not going to go forward with the idea. We want to pay future nurses, future teachers, and if students are doing internships in the private sector, it's going to be a 50/50 repartition between the employer and the public system. MAKOS: All of these measures would cost money. You compare Quebec to a lot of other jurisdictions; the amount that you pay to go to school in Quebec versus other places, seems like students have it OK in this province. I wonder why that's such a priority for you to lessen that burden, when some would argue the burden is already lower than others. MILLIARD: The cost of living is getting higher and higher in Quebec. The different food banks have new clients right now, and they're called students throughout Quebec. We've seen that pretty much in every region that I visited in the past 10 months on this race. I just want to accept this request from the student federations. I think it's going to cost between $300 and $400 million, but this is money that we're not going to put in helping the students in other situations, whether it's housing, whether it's financial aid for tuition fees and stuff. This is something that I've been very clear about from the get-go. MAKOS: If you can increase the wealth of Quebec and bring in revenues, you can pay for any program. So, give me a bold idea here when it comes to the economy. MILLIARD: It's about going back to prioritize our SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises]. We've been talking a lot about big companies in the past six years, with Northvolt, with Lion Electric, and so on and so forth. I think [Premier] Mr. [François] Legault and [former economy minister] Mr. [Pierre] Fitzgibbon played the lottery with our money. We need to go back to what we're good at, which is SMEs, which are small and medium-sized businesses, which are companies with 25, 50, 100 employees. They're the ones who are vitalizing our different regions in Quebec. The economic plan that I put out with former minister [Raymond] Bachand in this campaign, he's been with me since day one, is about rolling out the red carpet for SMEs, decreasing taxes for SMEs. We're going to have a look also at the wage taxes that entrepreneurs are paying right now, so we can send a strong signal that if you want to open a business in Quebec and bring fiscal revenue, so that we can pay for our social net, we're more than hoping to welcome your cases. MAKO: You said before, 'I want to bring in the tech bros and the tech gals,' and when you said that, I'm thinking, 'Oh, United States. Elon Musk. DOGE.' It's on the same vein that the government has too many regulations, they're getting in the way too often. Do you feel that Quebec gets in the way of doing business? MILLIARD: There is way too much regulation in Quebec. To me, it's obvious, and I've heard some of my opponents saying that they want a ministry of regulation. I would rather have a bill put into place that is going to force the different public servants to work towards more deregulation than having a ministry. This is something we need to do, both from an economic perspective, but also from a linguistic perspective, especially with the [Office québécois de la langue française] OQLF. MAKOS: Do you have a bold idea on refocusing the OQLF? MILLIARD: I'll be more precise as to what I want the OQLF to do, and it's not to get in the way of businesses in Quebec. We can say that and still be strong and fierce promoters of French and Quebec without impeding on what the businesses have to do. MAKOS: I'll give you some time here to wrap up with one more bold idea, if you've got it for us. MILLIARD: I'm going to say that on identity, this is a field that we need to play. We don't have to leave the [Coalition Avenir Québec] CAQ and the [Parti Québécois] PQ alone. I'm the only one who has been courageous enough with proposing a bill on interculturalism, which is a way to recognize that Quebec is like a tree, and the tree trunk is the French language, of course, and we have branches, which is the English-speaking community, our First Nations and Inuit, the different cultural communities we have, but we want them to bear fruit. We want them to grow with our tree trunk, which is the French language, and this is my answer to the divisive politics of the CAQ and the PQ, who want to bring a customs [office] to Gatineau instead of uniting Canadians. MAKOS: It seems to me that you also really do believe that integration is key. MILLIARD: I want us to be a liberal society, which means that we have to respect and defend all the minorities, and this is what the Liberal Party has been all about for 157 years, and hopefully for the next 10 years, with me leading it.
Perth Now
03-05-2025
- General
- Perth Now
‘Death sentence' for koala population as site designated for 210,000 residents
Experts are warning the Queensland government's plan to turn koala habitat into housing is a 'death sentence' for one of Australia's most iconic native animals. The state government announced the Priority Development Area (PDA) at Southern Thornlands in Redlands on April 4, covering an 890ha area with around 8000 new houses set to be built. The Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) argues that the development will be a 'death sentence' for animals in the area known as the 'Koala Coast'. About 185ha of core koala habitat that provides important food and shelter for koala populations is set to be destroyed by the development, according to the QCC. 'Koalas are on the brink of extinction in South East Queensland, and we must protect the remaining habitat, not carve it up for the benefit of big developers,' Nature Campaigner and Ecologist Natalie Frost said. 'This PDA is at odds with the local council, community and the needs of Queensland's environment. It's a great shame to see the state government failing in its duty to protect one of the nation's most iconic and loveable marsupials, the koala.' The QCC is calling for the state government to revoke the PDA and instead renew and strengthen South East Queensland Conservation Strategy, which is set to expire this year. The Queensland Conservation Council is calling for protection of a remaining koala habitat. Credit: The Queensland Conservation Council 'The LNP has stated that it will reform the planning system, but where is the detail, and is this what reform looks like? David Crisafulli has talked about the problem of losing koala habitat to development, but offered no details except to say it should be protected,' Frost said. 'By building up in the right places, not out, and adopting sustainable design principles we can protect SEQ's remaining 35 per cent remnant bushland and 31 per cent koala habitat and start making habitat restoration a habit, while still creating affordable, well-connected and liveable homes.' Redland City Council said that now the PDA has been declared, the Redland City Plan will no longer apply to the area and council will have no formal control over planning and decision-making within the designated PDA area. Some 185ha of koala habitat is set to be affected by the development, according to the QCC. Credit: AAP Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) said the PDA would offer housing choices to the community, as well as provide an integrated approach to infrastructure planning, including transport, schools and community facilities. 'The Southern Thornlands PDA will play an important role in addressing Redland City Local Government Area's future housing, infrastructure, and economic needs,' EDQ said. 'Recognised as a priority future growth area in Shaping SEQ in 2023, this PDA supports the region's future growth.' EDQ said that by 2046, Redlands is predicted to grow to a population of approximately 210,000 residents. 'New and diverse housing is required to accommodate this growth,' they said. However, community run group Redlands2030 said the PDA will likely lead to the 'local extinction of koalas' in the area. 'What is needed is a planning approach that puts koalas as a priority consideration,' Redlands2030 president Steve McDonald said. 'But instead, a PDA is a top-down planning process. It will be another assault on the livability and quality of life in the Redlands, and it will likely see lots that are less than 300sqm, as well as duplexes and other higher-density housing options.' EDQ said that it appreciates that a development of this scale will affect people who live and work locally, and are engaging with the community and stakeholders. The group said a formal consultation period for community feedback on the proposed Development Scheme will also be set.
7NEWS
03-05-2025
- General
- 7NEWS
‘Death sentence' for koala population as site designated for 210,000 residents
Experts are warning the Queensland government's plan to turn koala habitat into housing is a 'death sentence' for one of Australia's most iconic native animals. The state government announced the Priority Development Area (PDA) at Southern Thornlands in Redlands on April 4, covering an 890ha area with around 8000 new houses set to be built. The Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) argues that the development will be a 'death sentence' for animals in the area known as the 'Koala Coast'. About 185ha of core koala habitat that provides important food and shelter for koala populations is set to be destroyed by the development, according to the QCC. 'Koalas are on the brink of extinction in South East Queensland, and we must protect the remaining habitat, not carve it up for the benefit of big developers,' Nature Campaigner and Ecologist Natalie Frost said. 'This PDA is at odds with the local council, community and the needs of Queensland's environment. It's a great shame to see the state government failing in its duty to protect one of the nation's most iconic and loveable marsupials, the koala.' The QCC is calling for the state government to revoke the PDA and instead renew and strengthen South East Queensland Conservation Strategy, which is set to expire this year. 'The LNP has stated that it will reform the planning system, but where is the detail, and is this what reform looks like? David Crisafulli has talked about the problem of losing koala habitat to development, but offered no details except to say it should be protected,' Frost said. 'By building up in the right places, not out, and adopting sustainable design principles we can protect SEQ's remaining 35 per cent remnant bushland and 31 per cent koala habitat and start making habitat restoration a habit, while still creating affordable, well-connected and liveable homes.' Redland City Council said that now the PDA has been declared, the Redland City Plan will no longer apply to the area and council will have no formal control over planning and decision-making within the designated PDA area. Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) said the PDA would offer housing choices to the community, as well as provide an integrated approach to infrastructure planning, including transport, schools and community facilities. 'The Southern Thornlands PDA will play an important role in addressing Redland City Local Government Area's future housing, infrastructure, and economic needs,' EDQ said. 'Recognised as a priority future growth area in Shaping SEQ in 2023, this PDA supports the region's future growth.' EDQ said that by 2046, Redlands is predicted to grow to a population of approximately 210,000 residents. 'New and diverse housing is required to accommodate this growth,' they said. However, community run group Redlands2030 said the PDA will likely lead to the 'local extinction of koalas' in the area. 'What is needed is a planning approach that puts koalas as a priority consideration,' Redlands2030 president Steve McDonald said. 'But instead, a PDA is a top-down planning process. It will be another assault on the livability and quality of life in the Redlands, and it will likely see lots that are less than 300sqm, as well as duplexes and other higher-density housing options.' EDQ said that it appreciates that a development of this scale will affect people who live and work locally, and are engaging with the community and stakeholders. The group said a formal consultation period for community feedback on the will also be set.
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Proposed Queensland nuclear power plants risk contaminating water supplies in event of disaster, research finds
Proposed nuclear power plants in Queensland could strain water supplies, even under normal operations, and risk contaminating them in the event of a nuclear disaster, critics warn. Analysis by the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) has found that one of the two nuclear reactors proposed for the sunshine state, under the energy plan that the Coalition will take to the upcoming federal election, could require double the water currently used by the existing Callide coal-fired power station. The other, Tarong, could use 55% more water than its existing coal station. Tarong's primary water source is the Boondooma Dam, from which it is allocated 30,000 megalitres a year, and which also supplies drinking water for the nearby town of Kingaroy and irrigates the rich agricultural land along the Boyne River. But Tarong also has a pipeline to the Wivenhoe Dam, the main supply of water for Brisbane and Ipswich, which – due to substantial premiums – it only uses when Boondooma Dam levels are low. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The QCC report also raises concerns about additional water that would be required to prevent a meltdown in the event of disaster. About 1.3m tonnes of seawater was required to cool Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors and prevent a complete meltdown in 2011 – water which has been stored on site for more than a decade and which began being gradually released into the ocean through an undersea tunnel about one kilometre long in 2023. The report has been described as 'flawed and highly politicised' by the Coalition. But the director of QCCC, Dave Copeman, said there 'simply is not enough water' available to run nuclear facilities in the proposed locations and 'no plan for where to store irradiated water required for heat reduction in the case of an emergency'. Tony Irwin, an Australian National University honorary associate professor said modern nuclear power plants would not need to draw on external water supplies in the event of catastrophe. Irwin is the technical director at SMR Nuclear Technology Pty Ltd, a consulting company established to advise on the roll out of small modular reactors in Australia. 'Post-Fukushima there was a lot of improvements and design changes, so that a modern reactor would survive even a Fukushima-type of accident,' he said. 'Modern power stations, like a Westinghouse APS 1000, is all passive cooling, it's all with its own containment so it doesn't withdraw water from anywhere else to keep itself cool … in an emergency situation, it's completely self contained'. The Callide coal-fired power plant has an annual water allocation of 20,000 ML from the Callide Dam, which is fed by the Awoonga Dam. As of Wednesday, Awoonga – which supplies the city of Gladstone's water – was at 46% capacity, and Callide – which supplies drinking water to Biloela – was at 16.5% capacity. Callide Dam is also used to replenish aquifers that irrigate crops in the Callide Valley. Callide would have to find an additional 27,000 ML of water to power the kind of power plants implied by the Coalition's nuclear plan, the QCC report found – with Copeman saying there was simply 'not enough water available'. The renewable energy engineer for the QCC, Clare Silcock, who crunched the numbers on the report, said the Coalition's nuclear proposal was scant on details. Instead she drew upon the Frontier Economic's modelling that the opposition has relied upon to argue its nuclear vision for seven reactors across the country would be 44% cheaper than the government's renewables-led plan. That report models just over 100,000 gigawatt hours of nuclear electricity in the National Electricity Market (NEM) – which covers Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia – by 2050. Six of the proposed nuclear sites are within the NEM, and so the QCC report assumes the generation would be spread equally across those sites. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Ian Lowe, emeritus professor at Griffith University's school of environment and science, said that a rule of thumb was that a nuclear power station needed about 15% more water than a coal-fired power station of the same capacity. '[But] if we were to build the amount of nuclear power proposed in the Frontier Economics report as part of the Coalition's long-term approach for 2050 electricity, there would not be enough water for Tarong and Callide to provide the proposed share of power,' he said. That meant that the Frontier report was 'implicitly assuming that the nuclear power program would be expanded' beyond the sites already identified by the Coalition. 'So it would be reasonable to ask the question: if the much larger nuclear program proposed in the Frontier Economics report were to go ahead, where would all the extra power stations be sited?' Lowe said. Irwin said that the water required to make steam to generate electricity under normal operations of a thermal nuclear power station with indirect cooling towers, such as at Callide and Tarong, would draw on 'slightly more' than a coal-fired plant to generate the same amount of electricity. 'But if you are worried about water consumption, you can go to dry cooling,' he said. Irwin said that using fans to blow air through a large radiator in a closed circuit, or dry-cooling, was, generally, slightly less efficient, cost more and decreased electrical output – but by requiring a fraction of the amount of water, would enable power stations 'to be built practically anywhere'. The shadow energy minister, Ted O'Brien, described the QCC report as 'flawed and highly politicised' criticising it for making assumptions about water usage based on a 2006 feasibility study into the possibility of establishing a nuclear power industry in Australia commissioned by then prime minister John Howard. 'The Coalition has embraced a world's best practice 'coal to nuclear' because it allows us to leverage existing infrastructure – including water, transmission and a local workforce,' O'Brien said. The Coalition minister pointed to the Palo Verde Nuclear power plant in the Sonoran desert, one of the United State's largest power producers and the only one in the world not near a large body of water as it uses treated wastewater from nearby cities. Associate professor Martin Anda, with Murdoch University's centre for water, energy and waste, said US comparisons were 'not relevant to Australia'. Anda said he was not '100% against nuclear' – and that it would 'probably be a good solution' in the Arctic regions of the US and Europe, for example, where water abounds, renewable energy opportunities are more limited and the nuclear industry is established. Australia, though, not only lacked for an abundance of water, but also the kind of regulatory frameworks and safeguards that could take years to establish. The headline and text of this article were amended on 24 March 2025 after the Guardian was notified of a significant calculation error in the Queensland Conservation Council research. An earlier version said the dams that supply the proposed Callide and Tarong nuclear plants 'could not access enough water' to cool them in the event of a meltdown; our article has been amended in line with the organisation's revised analysis.
The Independent
11-03-2025
- General
- The Independent
King plants tree near Palace lake to celebrate Commonwealth forest network
The King has planted a red maple tree at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the success of a global network of Commonwealth forests created in tribute to his late mother. Charles used a spade to shovel dirt at the base of the Acer rubrum, 'October Glory' near the lake's edge in the gardens of the royal residence to commemorate the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). The King, a passionate gardener and environmentalist, personally chose the species of sapling, which is known for its striking display of scarlet leaves in the autumn. He was said to have spotted one of the other October Glories in the grounds some time ago and decided it would be a perfect addition next to the lake. The monarch used a watering can to give the young tree its first drink in its new home on Tuesday. Charles is known for saying 'Good luck tree' at each official tree planting, followed by a ritual of touching the trunk for luck. The tree, the third of its kind in the Palace gardens, also stands in recognition of the King's 'longstanding commitment to environmental conservation and the enduring bond between the nations of the Commonwealth', Buckingham Palace said. The QCC project was launched in 2015 to encourage Commonwealth countries to create a network of protected areas of forest to mark Elizabeth II's lifetime of service as head of the family of nations. Some 54 countries have since taken part, dedicating more than 115 sites and projects, and conserving nearly 12 million hectares of indigenous forests including botanical gardens in the Caribbean and a gene bank of forest in Rwanda. It is understood the King selected the maple tree some time ago. The red maple leaf features on the Canadian flag but it is understood the sapling was chosen for its appearance, rather than to signify support for Canada amid its trade war with its neighbouring US.
