Environmental concerns surrounding Stablex once again took centre stage at Blainville city council’s Aug. 18 meeting. The meeting drew residents, activists and concerned citizens eager to question municipal officials about the controversial hazardous waste facility’s planned expansion.
The meeting marked council’s first public session following the summer break. Prior to the meeting, Mayor Liza Poulin and members of council spent time speaking directly with residents gathered at city hall.
For many attendees, the opportunity to speak face-to-face with elected officials was appreciated. Others, however, arrived with pressing concerns about Stablex and the company’s expansion plans near the Grande Tourbière de Blainville.
Public pressure begins to build
Stablex, a U.S.-owned company operating in Blainville since 1983, treats and disposes of hazardous industrial waste received from across North America. The company has argued that a planned sixth disposal cell is necessary to ensure the continued management of waste that cannot be handled by conventional landfills. The new cell is also expected to be located farther from residential areas than existing facilities.
Opposition to the project has intensified in recent months. Just days before the council meeting, residents gathered in Blainville to express frustration with the proposed expansion and what organizers described as a lack of responsiveness from government authorities. Citizen groups have called for additional independent environmental testing and are urging Quebec not to issue an operating permit for the sixth cell until further studies are completed.
The concerns stem in part from a community-led sampling campaign conducted near the site in 2025. According to those involved in the project, water and sediment samples collected around the facility contained elevated levels of metals including cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic and chromium. Coalition members argue the findings warrant further investigation before the expansion proceeds.
Stablex has maintained that its operations comply with environmental regulations and says the facility is subject to stringent government oversight. Quebec’s Environment Minister Pascale Déry has also stated that preliminary results from a more recent sampling campaign did not reveal any anomalies and that Stablex’s application for an operating permit remains under review.
Opponents of the project argue that the expansion threatens portions of the Grande Tourbière de Blainville, a sensitive wetland habitat that supports birds, fish and other wildlife. Several residents and members of citizen groups attended the meeting to voice concerns about potential environmental impacts and the long-term future of the site. Approximately 41% of the materials buried in Blainville come from outside Quebec, including 29% from the United States.
Among those who addressed council was 15-year-old Blainville native William Guindon, a young citizen researcher whose submissions regarding the Stablex project have been reviewed by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and other oversight bodies.
Speaking with The North Shore News, Guindon said his decision to address council was driven by a desire to ensure elected officials and residents had access to factual information.
“My intervention was intended to bring factual information from public documents and ongoing regulatory processes to the attention of elected officials and the community,” Guindon said. “The goal was to highlight the importance of transparency, compliance with established standards and access to technical data so all local stakeholders have a rigorous and verifiable picture of the situation.”
Guindon stressed that his work is based on research and regulatory analysis rather than activism.
“My approach is first and foremost a methodical research effort involving the analysis of data and the verification of regulatory compliance,” he said.
He added that while international organizations may review legal and environmental frameworks, municipal governments remain the level of government closest to residents.
“Projects are implemented locally,” Guindon said. “It therefore seemed logical and complementary to share this documented technical information directly with local decision-makers and residents of Blainville.”
Throughout the evening, Mayor Poulin sought to reassure residents regarding environmental monitoring around the Stablex site.
“Public Health conducted an assessment of the potential impacts on human health and concluded that there are no concerns,” Poulin said.
Addressing concerns about local water bodies, the mayor emphasized that testing completed by experts found no significant risk.
“The variables were analyzed, and the results showed that even at the highest concentration, there would be no impact on aquatic life, even if an organism were exposed to it for its entire lifespan,” she said.
Poulin also noted that the water body in question is not intended for consumption.
“It is a body of water that is not meant to be consumed or bathed in,” she said.
“As for the human population, there is no danger. It is never recommended that people drink water directly from a lake on a continuous basis, regardless of the lake. However, skin contact is a different matter, and at the concentrations measured, there is no risk to human health.”
While defending the conclusions reached by environmental and public health authorities, the mayor stressed that the city’s vigilance would continue.
“We will continue to remain vigilant, and that level of vigilance will never diminish,” Poulin said.
Additional council business
Beyond the Stablex discussion, council approved several administrative and environmental initiatives during the meeting.
Among them was the adoption of a greenhouse gas reduction target. Council also endorsed a citizen consultation report outlining 11 priorities identified by residents ahead of Quebec’s provincial election.
According to Poulin, the report is organized around four key themes: environment, mobility, housing and infrastructure. The document is expected to help guide discussions with provincial political parties during the election campaign.
Council also authorized the signing of a financial assistance agreement under a stormwater management program that will enhance existing grants available to local industries, businesses and institutions undertaking de-paving and green infrastructure projects on private property.
The meeting concluded after several hours of discussion, but debate surrounding the Stablex expansion is expected to continue as the provincial government reviews the company’s permit application.
