By Morgan Lowrie Environmentalists are divided on whether a new funding deal reached between Quebec and the federal government is a meaningful first step to saving the province’s dwindling caribou herds or a “smokescreen” that does little to protect the threatened species. The agreement announced Tuesday will see Ottawa send Quebec $25 million over five years to spend on caribou conservation initiatives, as well as another $15 million to Indigenous communities who are implementing their own programs. The deal signals an end to the years-long federal-provincial battle over caribou that began in 2022, when then-federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault threatened to act unilaterally to protect the threatened herds if the province failed to submit a concrete plan to save them. Retired biology professor Marco Festa-Bianchet describes $25 million Quebec-Ottawa caribou…
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