The City of Quebec announced on June 2 its desire to measure the air quality in Limoilou and it keeps its promise: eight sampling stations have been in operation since October 14. However, the municipal administration is behind schedule, since the first results, promised this year, will not become public until 2023.
The objective remains the same, it is the agenda that changes. “The desire is to have data to measure air quality […] to identify the sources [de pollution] and work to improve air quality where the sources come from [la] contaminate,” recalls Mayor Bruno Marchand.
Eight sampling stations will probe until December 9 the concentration of 30 metals, including nickel, in the fine suspended particles floating in Limoilou. This district is home to the incinerator, the port, the biomethanation center and several motorway slip roads — as well as one of the densest populations in the capital.
“I am well aware – we are all aware that the air quality in Limoilou is a major concern, indicated the president and general manager of the Port of Quebec, Mario Girard. There are still answers to be provided and actions to be taken. »
However, the population of the lower town will have to wait a few months longer than expected before having a first portrait of the air they breathe. The analyses, which the municipal administration promised “by the end of the year”, will instead become public “at the end of March, beginning of April”.
“We have two entities capable of producing results in three weeks, and a third which takes longer, explains Mayor Bruno Marchand. Rather than submit an incomplete report to you, we prefer to wait. I think it’s the right decision. »
A dress rehearsal
To carry out its sampling campaign, the City, the port and the Ministry of the Environment have deployed seven stations in addition to the single one that measured air quality before. Quebec, according to an estimate by the City’s director of prevention and environmental control, Matthieu Alibert, has invested $100,000 to set up its three stations.
The data collected will be added to that collected by the sensors of the Limoil’Air movement, a citizens’ initiative set up to compensate for the inaction of the authorities in the area’s air quality file. The City also promises to add fourteen stations on its municipal buildings. So far, only five are in place.
This first sampling campaign serves as a general rehearsal before measuring air quality throughout the territory of Québec. The city, maintains Mr. Alibert, wants, in the long term, to make analyzes during each season and in all the districts of the capital.
The good faith of the port questioned
The Port of Quebec has displayed a new good corporate conscience since a strong citizen mobilization led the rebellion against Laurentia, its ambitious expansion project finally rejected last year by Ottawa.
Since then, the port authority has multiplied environmental and community initiatives. It has authorized swimming in the Bassin Louise, is developing green frameworks, and says it is ready to collaborate fully with the City to measure and improve the air quality of Limoilou.
“There is total collaboration, there is no hesitation at all, it is important to be there,” maintains CEO Mario Girard. The first sampling period chosen, which runs from October to December, is one of “fairly intense activities at the port level”, he says, “where there will be nickel transshipment. The information is important in Limoilou, since the government recently quintupled the amount of nickel allowed in the air.
Some, however, continue to doubt the good faith of the Port of Quebec. This is particularly the case of Jackie Smith, councilor of Limoilou and leader of the ecologist party Transition Québec. ” It’s a show smoke that the port has been doing for 10 years,” laments the elected official. Considering the history of the Port of Quebec, we cannot trust him and expect him to provide us with a true portrait of the situation. »
According to her, the port authority must make available in real time the data collected by its sampling stations, in particular those located on its territory.
Mario Girard denies wanting to hide any information whatsoever. An air quality committee, he maintains, deems them incidental. “The committee decided that it was not necessary,” he said. If the committee finds them useful, we will be there. »