Petroleum is an important energy source and our lifestyle is totally dependent of it. However, it is a polluting, non-renewable resource that largely contributes to climate change and its cost keeps rising as more and more ''non-conventional'' oil deposits are exploited.

Luckily, solutions do exist, particularly in Quebec, to allow us to benefit right now of a significant reduction of our oil consumption.

The Regroupement national des conseils régionaux de l’environnement (RNCREQ) unites all the regional environmental councils in Quebec. In spring 2010, RNCREQ launched an initiative called Les rendez-vous de l’énergie - imaginons le Québec sans pétrole, which essentially aimed to bring people together through a massive public consultation to reduce our fossil fuel dependency. RNCREQ dispatched the organization of local activities to each regional environmental council. These local activities brought together the local social and economical actors and the local populations. 

CRE de Laval gladly welcomed this initiative by forming a local action committee which included the City of Laval, the regional conference of elected officials, Laval youth forum, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Laval, the Société de transport de Laval, the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and Collège Montmorency’s student association.

The peak of this first phase of regional activities was the very first Quebec Forum on Energy (in French) in November 2011, which brought together socioeconomical and political actors from everywhere in Quebec during a great, unprecedented event.

The local action committee focused on organising four activities: the citizen’s caravan (la Caravane citoyenne), a conference and discussion, a scientific café, and an open forum.   

The Citizens' Caravan (La Caravane citoyenne)

This project worked like a box containing 4 activities (the Wheel of the future (La Roue de l’avenir)), Nomad elections (Élections nomades), Dice of involvement (Dés de l’engagement) and Priority challenge (Défi des priorités) in which consulted participants were free to try out. 

CRE de Laval hosted the citizen’s caravan for five days at Montmorency college during the Day without my car (Journée sans ma voiture) event, at the International science and society forum (Forum international Science et société) during the Quinzaine des Sciences event and at Carrefour Laval’s environmental fair. The City of Laval hosted the citizen’s caravan for three days at the Centre de la Nature de Laval and also included the project in other animations like Act against GHG (Agissons contre les GES), Ecological program (Programme Ecologis) and Turn off engines (Coupez les moteurs).

Conference and discussion

We hosted a conference and public discussion at the Maison des Arts de Laval regarding different energy sources and their impacts on our health and environment. Our guest-speakers were Mrs Kim Cornelissen, vice-president of the Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique, Mr Karel Mayrand, director of the David-Suzuki Foundation (Quebec division), and Dr Éric Notebaert, emergency doctor and assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Université de Montréal.

Scientific café

The regional conference of elected officials organized a scientific café where discussions on the local potential of geothermal energy were held. The event took place at the Caffè Art Java. Participants listened and discussed with M. Pierre Thanday from the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition and M. Patrick Ranger from Ecoconstruction and M. François Tremblay from Excel Climatisation Inc. 

Open forum: Laval 2030: A healthy and eco energetic region - What to do?

Laval’s regional environmental council organized an open forum which was introduced by the Rendez-vous de l’énergie’s spokesperson, François Reeves, cardiologist and associate professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Université de Montréal. Afterwards, a talk about Quebec’s energetic independence was given by Mr Normand Mousseau, an internationally renowned scientist and physics professor from Université de Montréal. All in all, the event brought together around 30 actors from different institutions (City of Laval, Quebec government (MDDEP), STL, regional conference of elected officials, school board), community organization representatives, students, COOP TAXI Laval and Laval citizens.

Par Notre Propre Énergie 

This program was continued through the second phase: Par Notre Propre Énergie.