A treasurer of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), also president of the agricultural committee of the City of Mirabel, backfilled the land he cultivates with non-compliant materials, noted The duty. Having been aware of the situation for years, the mayor of Mirabel says that the City is following up and maintains that Quebec and the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land (CPTAQ) should do more to counter the dumping of residues in agricultural zones.
The rear part of the agricultural land of the treasurer of the UPA for the Sainte-Scholastique–Mirabel region, farmer Dominic Lauzon, looks like vacant land. Piles of bricks, concrete, tiles and scrap metal are intertwined with the weeds. An abandoned gatehouse reminds us that unloading trucks have been welcomed there in recent years. Further on, orange cones trace a path that goes 200 meters from the road. It is there, at the foot of an imposing electricity pylon, that lies a pile of more than two meters of stones.
Dominic Lauzon makes no secret of it: these materials have nothing to do with arable land. He explains that he ordered soil a few years ago to backfill the rear part of his land. “But I wasn’t aware that this type of material was coming in,” he said in defense. At that time, I didn’t have time to go see it every day. »
I wasn’t aware that this type of material was coming in. At that time, I didn’t have time to go see it every day.
At the same time, he maintains that it is the company Nycel Dépôt – responsible for the embankment – which did not respect its part of the contract: “He was supposed to finish that last year. I asked this year, he didn’t. I spoke to him often, and he always postponed the dates he was supposed to come. »
The owner of Nycel Dépôt – which has also been called Remblai Expert since 2022 – Dany Duchaine, maintained that “all the land is good” and that “the site will be cultivable when we have completed the work”. However, he refused to give a timetable. When the presence of bricks and crushed asphalt was mentioned, he downplayed their importance. “We protect a path with a little asphalt or concrete blocks that we remove at the end of the project,” he said before cutting the conversation short.
The president of the regional subdivision of the UPA, Marcel Denis, acknowledges being aware of the situation “for at least two years”. He admits that the discomfort is real among the other regional administrators of the UPA given the fact that Mr. Lauzon represents the agricultural union.
The UPA contacted the city’s planning manager, who, after inspection, maintained that the site was compliant. A position which made Mr. Denis react: “We asked questions. Let’s say that we still know that, the agricultural environment, and what we know is that the type of soil [qui a servi de remblai] does not allow farming. »
In fact, the UPA is not the only one to have communicated with the City. The duty obtained communications in which a member of the Mirabel municipal council explains having alerted the general manager and the person responsible for urban planning on a few occasions — but without success.
In an interview with The duty, the mayor of Mirabel concedes that the administration has been aware of the situation for years. However, he defends the City, which, according to him, would not have been inactive in the matter: “It was my department that would have noticed that the agronomic report did not correspond to the permit [de remblai]. This is the information I got. This is what led us to request that the work be stopped. He was asked to comply with his license. »
The use of inadequate backfill materials on agricultural land has been a major problem in recent years, he admits, explaining that in 2020, the City of Mirabel tightened the regulations governing backfilling on its territory.
However, over the last six months — in addition to the matter related to Dominic Lauzon’s land —, The duty revealed the carrying out of problematic backfilling activities on two other agricultural lands in Mirabel. An investigation published in June revealed that the manager of a Mirabel ecocenter, Sterling Recycling Service, was burying residue in an agricultural zone. The Ministry of the Environment and the CPTAQ have since opened investigations. In August, an article reported on Construction Nexus’ non-compliant backfilling activities carried out on agricultural land in Mirabel. The CPTAQ confirmed that it had opened an investigation in connection with the activities of this major excavation company. For its part, the Ministry of the Environment fined him $10,000 in July for spreading contaminated materials on this land.
Mayor Charbonneau says he is not aware of this latest file. Furthermore, he maintains that the City acts within the limits of the powers it possesses. ” The government [du Québec]the Ministry of the Environment and the CPTAQ will also have to do a little more to help the cities, because once again, we are very good at “pitch” the burden to the municipalities,” says -he.