The inhabitants of Limoilou breathe one of the airs most saturated with fine particles in Quebec, confirms a long-awaited report of 1213 pages produced by the Working Group on Atmospheric Contaminants (GTCA). The study also shows that the daily nickel standard is still being exceeded, “an unacceptable risk, the report states, for part of the population. »
“This portrait shows that the average annual concentrations of fine particles at the station [d’échantillonnage] Vieux-Limoilou are among the highest in the province,” the report noted. In the dock: wood heating, construction and road transport.
Three highways surround Limoilou, a once working-class district crossed today by the frequent passage of heavy trucks. It is precisely near this sector that the CAQ government intends to bring out its third link.
“Traffic in the study area is a significant source [de pollution], says the report. This is a blind spot to consider. » Road transport notably emits nitrogen dioxide, one of the three contaminants considered « priority » by the GTCA. According to Health Canada, 24% of the population of Quebec lives less than 100 m from a busy road and 9% less than 50 m. The federal agency also concluded, in 2022, that there was a link between pollution linked to automobile traffic and several types of disease and cancer.
Wood heating is also a major contamination factor in the neighbourhood. The City of Quebec estimates that there are 25,000 wood stoves on its territory and that between 5,000 and 8,000 of them do not meet the standards. This large number, the report notes, “makes their emissions exceed those of industries. »
Fine particles are also part of the contaminants deemed “priority” by the working group. Canadian authorities warn that even short exposure to fine particles is enough to increase the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. In Limoilou, the report estimates, the bill for these risks entails a cost of 300 million dollars.
The third contaminant to watch out for, according to the report published on Tuesday, is nickel, an ore. It was precisely in the wake of the reduction in the standard for nickel in the air that the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, had mandated the working group to identify the ingredients of the “soup” that vitiates the atmosphere of Limoilou and, above all, their provenance.
Between 2010 and 2019, “the average nickel concentrations of other Canadian cities [variaient] from 1 to 3 ng/m3,” the report recalls. Meanwhile, “the average concentration in the Limoilou-Basse-Ville sector [était] much higher at around 11.5 ng/m3. »
The report also recommends that the Port of Quebec better protect the handling and transshipment of nickel to reduce the presence of this contaminant in the air of Limoilou.
Recalling that science remains uncertain as to the risks posed by nickel on health, the report observes that recurring exceedances of the daily standard have taken place for at least 12 years. Between 2011 and 2021, the GTCA counted 44 exceedances of the new standard of 70 ng/m3 which came into force in April 2022 at the Vieux-Limoilou station (3.3% of samples). It also reports 23 recorded between 2015 and 2021 at Port of Quebec stations. “This is an unacceptable situation for part of the population, underlines the GTCA. It is relevant to pursue mitigation efforts aimed at meeting the standards. »
Less than half an hour after the publication of the report, the City of Quebec presented 40 actions in progress or to come to improve the air quality of Limoilou. “We will take our responsibilities, we will not run away,” said the mayor of the capital, Bruno Marchand. In the same breath, it invites the population and industrialists to do their part, by rethinking, among other things, their heating, consumption and transportation habits.
He notes in passing that the CAQ government will now have to demonstrate that its tunnel will not further degrade an atmosphere that its administration and the population are seeking to improve. “If it amplifies a problem that we are trying to solve, warns Mayor Marchand, we will have an issue. »
“Why do everything to exclude us? »
The public presentation of the report on Tuesday was itself controversial. The population was waiting for its deposition on 1er December, date postponed for the first time to January 16 before a second postponement further delays its presentation to the Minister of the Environment to January 27.
On Monday, citizens learned of the public presentation only 24 hours in advance. “Having us announce with 24 hours notice that there is an information session without our having the report in our hands beforehand, if not only a few hours before the event, is very problematic”, deplores a mother of Limoilou Isabelle Arsenault.
The fact that the meeting is held in the upper town also arouses discontent. “I have to pick up the kids from daycare, cook supper, do the whole evening routine. It’s rare that at 7 p.m. on weekdays, I hang around the National Assembly! adds M.me Arsenault.
The presentation of the report is not distributed online. Unusual fact: the summons specifies that the journalists do not have the right to record neither the sound, nor the image. “It leads me to think that we manufacture a certain helplessness and ignorance of the population with regard to the pollution of their air, estimates the Limouloise. However, the people of Limoilou have demonstrated their ability to understand the situation and produce useful data for years. They can participate in the debates: why do everything to exclude them? »
More details to come.