Three years after its inauguration, the decontamination program that was to transform the east end of Montreal is stalling, according to data obtained by The Press.
While Quebec was planning to spend up to $200 million on it, only one private piece of land has been decontaminated so far. Three other sites, all belonging to the City of Montreal, were also cleaned. Some 9.6 million have been used, as the program ends in a year.
This is revealed by an access to information request made by the official opposition at city hall, The Press got a copy.
The Government of Quebec and Montreal both say they are disappointed with the slow pace of decontamination, which was to trigger the revitalization of this sector.
“We would like things to go faster, we cannot say the opposite”, admitted the Minister of the Economy and Minister responsible for Metropolitan France, Pierre Fitzgibbon, in an interview.. “I would like it to go faster, but we have to be realistic,” he continued, pointing out that the lack of transportation options and the isolation of several areas of eastern Montreal are detrimental to local development. commercial projects. And without a specific project, owners are not encouraged to decontaminate.
Luc Rabouin, responsible for the economy of the Plante administration, expresses the same nuanced disappointment.
“It is certain that we would like to be made much more advanced in the decontamination of land in the East. We had a lot of hope that we would have had more requests and that we would have been able to move forward more quickly,” he said in a telephone interview, adding that projects had recently been submitted. “You also have to see that we have had two years of a pandemic which are not necessarily the best times for owners to act. »
His vis-à-vis the opposition to the town hall sees things differently. “The administration of Projet Montréal has completely neglected that side of the development of eastern Montreal,” said Julien Hénault-Ratelle. It’s unfortunate because it’s one of the needs most often cited by citizens of the east end of Montreal. »
Sometimes complex process
The pandemic is not the only obstacle cited by the business community to explain the lack of popularity of the decontamination program.
“Clearly, we have not achieved our objectives at this time, and the private sector is not responding to the call,” explained the president of the East Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Jean-Denis Charest. . “I’m extremely disappointed, but at the same time I don’t think it’s a question of willpower. »
In the dock: the late disbursement of subsidies, once the decontamination is complete, which obliges the owners to advance the entire cost of the work for several months. “There aren’t many SMEs that are going to want to tie up 1, 2 or 3 million in cash,” he explained. There is not a lot of [prêts-]bridges. »
Another issue: the lack of knowledge or interest of some owners, whose decontamination is not the field of expertise. “It requires certain steps and incurring certain costs before knowing if we will be eligible for the program,” said Mr. Charest, relaying the comments of his members.
You have to roll up your sleeves and look at other approaches. We can’t give up, we won’t be able to revitalize the East if we don’t focus on these areas.
Jean-Denis Charest, President of the East Montreal Chamber of Commerce
Huge oil company lands are not eligible for the program.
Kevin Morin represents decontamination companies as head of the Council of Environmental Technology Companies of Quebec (CETEQ). Adding to these issues, he cites the complexity of the program, which requires homeowners to have received a number of submissions before proceeding with the cleanup. Due to labor shortages and overflowing order books, “it may be more difficult to bring together the required number of bidders,” he said.
“It’s working”
Faced with its lack of effectiveness, the program was modified at the start of 2022 in order to increase the proportion of decontamination paid for by the State to 90% of the bill.
This is the absolute maximum that the public authorities can give to private owners to develop their own land, said Mr. Rabouin. “It’s extremely generous. We can’t do it ourselves, at some point. »
The elected municipal official and the Minister of the Economy both pointed out that new application files had landed on the desks of the officials responsible for the program “in the last few weeks”.
Six new lands are currently waiting for a green light: three private lands, three public lands, said Luc Rabouin. “We see that the efforts are starting to bear fruit,” he said, adding that the projects total 33 million. “We see that it is activated. »