The Legault government imposed the swift adoption of a bill on Thursday to expand a hazardous waste landfill in Blainville, in the metropolitan area, despite opposition from municipalities and environmental groups.
“We’re not going to win a popularity contest with this decision,” acknowledged the government’s parliamentary leader, Simon Jolin-Barrette, at the start of the debate, which was expected to last at least through the evening and likely until Friday morning.
“I ask parliamentarians to carefully consider the decision they will have to make, one that will have permanent consequences,” said Blainville Mayor Liza Poulin in a video Thursday evening, proposing an adjacent piece of land instead.
Citing the urgency to act to avoid a service disruption, the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government is using closure motion procedures to pass Bill 93.
This controversial legislation expropriates the City of Blainville against its will, at a cost of $17 million, to grant the land it seeks to the Quebec subsidiary of the American company Stablex.
The company argues that it will reach full storage capacity within two years—400,000 cubic meters by 2027—even though a 2023 BAPE report suggested there was capacity until 2030, according to the opposition.
The company claims it needs to clear the proposed land by April 15—before the federal law comes into effect—and that it will take two years to prepare the site, which would allow it to continue operations for another 40 years.
“The government is giving in to the company’s blackmail,” denounced Parti Quebecois (PQ) MNA Joël Arseneau during a press conference.
“Let’s not tie ourselves hand and foot to an American company for the next 40 years; that seems irresponsible to me. This has the scent of decree-based governance by the CAQ.”
Quebec Solidaire (QS) MNA Guillaume Cliche-Rivard called the move “hallucinatory and shameful.”
“The CAQ is ready to kneel before the company and give it everything it asks for,” accused Liberal MNA Virginie Dufour.
“It’s not very enlightening what we’re about to do,” lamented Liberal MNA Michelle Setlakwe.
“In the middle of the night, the government will force us to rapidly, hastily study a bill that will allow Stablex to quickly destroy a natural habitat, because it has to be done before April 15. How is it that we’ve been backed into a corner like this? What poor planning by the CAQ.”
“There are other solutions than suspending the rules of democracy,” argued PQ MNA Pascal Paradis.
At a press conference, QS MNA Christine Labrie said she did not agree with the urgency of the argument and criticized the government for swallowing the company’s claims.
“It’s in the best interest of Quebecers (...), we’re making the responsible decision,” responded Natural Resources Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina.
Blainville offered another adjacent piece of land, an option rejected by both the government and the company, who considered it too close—300 meters—to a residential neighbourhood compared to the preferred site’s one-kilometre distance.
However, the expansion project would cost Stablex $150 million on the land it wants, as opposed to $250 million on the land proposed by the city: the company has stored tons of clay there, and it would cost an additional $100 million to move this material elsewhere.
During the question period, Premier François Legault repeatedly stated that the opposition is choosing land 300 meters from homes, while his government “prefers land 1 kilometre from homes.”
An interim control bylaw is in place on both sites, so they are partly protected areas by the Montreal Metropolitan Community due to the wetlands found there.
The Union of Municipalities (UMQ), the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM), and various municipal councils see it as an affront to municipal autonomy, as the government takes drastic measures to dispossess Blainville.
The FQM and UMQ called on the government on Thursday to reverse its decision. Organizations such as Eau Secours, Mères au Front de Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, the Society for the Victory over Pollution (SVP), and the Quebec Association of Doctors for the Environment (AQME) have condemned the “lobby” of Stablex and urged the CAQ to back down.
To break the impasse, Mayor Poulin proposed another solution last Friday, which the government immediately rejected, arguing that it had “already been rejected in the past.”
In the proposal submitted Friday, the City and the Montreal Metropolitan Community indicated they were willing to remove “7.2 hectares of protected wetlands” so that Stablex could continue its operations on land owned by the Government of Quebec.
In return, the Montreal Metropolitan Community would protect 123 additional hectares of natural areas elsewhere in the sector, “which would prevent the fragmentation of the ecosystem and strengthen the integrity of the Blainville peat bog, benefiting the entire metropolitan region.”
Poulin had already made it clear that the city intends to challenge the law if it is passed.
It should be noted that the Stablex industrial waste treatment facility currently includes a treatment plant and five landfill cells. The treated waste comes from industries such as mining and pharmaceuticals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French March 27, 2025.
