Quebec government pushes through Blainville toxic waste dump bill

The Stablex hazardous waste landfill in Blainville will soon be able to expand, after several weeks of controversy, unless the Superior Court blocks it.

On Friday morning, the Legault government rammed through Bill 93, which authorizes the expropriation of land belonging to the city, by speeding up procedures, despite the opposition parties, municipalities and environmental groups.

The company and the government pleaded urgency, arguing that the landfill would reach full capacity within two years and that 600 industrial and municipal customers depended on it.

However, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) and the City of Blainville had already indicated on Friday that they were asking the Superior Court to suspend the law until its legality could be validated.

Expansion work on the disputed site is due to begin shortly, since the clearing must be completed before April 15, when new federal rules on migratory birds come into force.

“We have no more time to lose,” pleaded Natural Resources Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina, who piloted the bill.

“We’re going to have to give the company the go-ahead quickly to start work in order to avoid a potential hazardous materials crisis. Obviously, the measures we are taking through this bill are not unanimously supported. The process we have launched has generated its share of reflection and discussion.

MNAs, who sat through the night, finally passed Bill 93 by a vote of 61 to 31. The three opposition parties rejected the piece of legislation – which, incidentally, gives extraordinary powers to the government, which authorizes “no appeal for judicial review under the Code of Civil Procedure” except on a question of jurisdiction.

“François Legault lacks gumption: if (the contaminating materials) sink in 10 or 15 years, he won’t be in politics anymore,” denounced opposition leader Marc Tanguay.

He warned the media to keep an eye on the expropriated land now, because “there’s a bulldozer that’s going to start” the work soon, as the bill “gave all the authorizations” to Stablex.

The City of Blainville proposed another adjacent site, an option rejected by both the government and the company, who considered it too close, at 300 metres, to a residential area.

The land obtained includes nine hectares of wetlands and 58 hectares of woodland.

The Stablex industrial waste treatment center currently comprises a treatment plant and five landfill cells.

The waste treated comes, for example, from the mining and pharmaceutical industries. In 2024, 17 per cent of this waste was imported from the United States.

The chosen site would enable the company to build a sixth landfill cell and continue operations for some 40 years, rather than 24 years on the other, smaller site.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews