(Montreal) Nearly 10 years after the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy, no downtown bypass has yet emerged. The project, which is still in the cards, divides more than ever.
One of the three municipalities that would be crossed by the bypass has announced that it will hold a referendum on the issue next month.
Each person with the right to vote will be able to answer this February 19 to the following question: “Do you approve of the project for the new railway bypass on the territory of Frontenac? “.
A 12.5 km route, which bypasses downtown Lac-Mégantic, and crosses the municipalities of Nantes, Lac-Mégantic and Frontenac, was announced in 2018. Since then, various consultations and studies have taken place.
The review of the project by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is still ongoing.
In its latest decision, dated Dec. 13, the CTA announced that it required a more specific assessment of environmental impacts.
For the application to be complete, “an up-to-date environmental effects assessment that adequately addresses the significant adverse environmental effects that the proposed railway line is likely to cause, including all latest studies and undertakings that have been prepared to address concerns raised by the public” must be filed.
Another stage is also continuing: the process of acquiring the land necessary for the construction of the bypass.
“The Government of Canada must acquire parcels of land to carry out the project. These parcels belong to 43 owners, including the City of Lac-Mégantic. The negotiation period is still ongoing, ”says Transport Canada in an email to The Canadian Press.
The initial schedule called for the project to be completed in 2023.
“Construction will begin once regulatory approvals, including that of the Canadian Transportation Agency, have been obtained. The application for project approval, submitted by Canadian Pacific to the CTA, is in progress. Once these steps have been completed, work can begin,” adds Transport Canada.
Concerns for the environment
Environmental effects are among the fears of area residents. The Frontenac municipal council withdrew its support for the project in May, in particular because of the “impacts on the water table and the quality of the water in the wells which would result from the construction of the bypass road”.
The members of the council had then estimated that they always received “the same unsatisfactory answer: a guarantee of 2 years only will be granted to the owners affected. After this delay, the citizen who had problems with the quality of his water would have no help,” reads a summary of the resolution.
In the municipality of Nantes, which is also crossed by the railway, the council still supports the bypass project – for the portion that crosses its land – but perhaps not for long.
“We have a work session next week. […]. It wouldn’t surprise me if the elected officials decide to have a resolution for a vote on the bypass, ”says the mayor of the municipality of nearly 1,500 people, Daniel Gendron.
The mayor says he has been withholding his advice for months as he hopes to get their concerns about the bypass answered, but to no avail.
“It is a route which, for the former council, was pushed down our throats a little bit, because there were consultations, but there are two routes which have not been studied. Then, I think that the former council would have liked to have a little more in-depth studies on these two other routes, ”says the one who was elected mayor in 2021.
Even if the current city council of Nantes has so far approved the route chosen by a majority, the mayor points out that one of the councilors, from the sector where the bypass would pass, voted against.
The mayor of Nantes also says he understands Frontenac’s fears about the drinking water supply.
“We were told there were no wetlands [sur le tracé]. Finally, there [en] has [sur] a fifth, he says. There are things that were hidden from us, that we learned afterwards, it’s a little insulting. »
The selected route crosses a wetland in Frontenac. According to the reference guide presented during public consultations on hydrology and measures aimed at mitigating the potential impacts of the project, in November, “construction could result in the permanent loss of up to 59 hectares of wetlands and up to 36 hectares of forest.
For comparison, 59 hectares corresponds to 110 football fields.
The federal government emphasizes taking into consideration the environmental impacts of the project. In an email to The Canadian Press, Transport Canada recalls that “as part of the provincial environmental assessment process completed in 2020, 138 mitigation measures were identified and integrated into the project in order to minimize the project’s impacts on the community and its environment.
Transport Canada adds that “other mitigation measures to protect groundwater and drinking water wells have also been added” following a study published in December 2021.
Lack of communication
In Nantes, the frustration comes mainly from the lack of communication.
“Communication with Transport Canada is a bit difficult,” said Mayor Daniel Gendron. We had promises from ministers Alghabra and Bibeau during a meeting (in May 2022). Then, when we submitted our projects, it was a dead letter. »
He explained to them that his municipality will suffer significant losses of income with the bypass.
“The new road will pass through a potential residential complex and on agricultural land, which are significant tax revenues,” he explains.
To compensate, he brought the idea that a project for the residents be carried out, such as the construction of a park, or renovations to the library or to the town hall, recalling that it is a question of a small municipality with a budget of 2.5 million.
He says the ministers encouraged him to go ahead with this, before remaining silent. “We’ve made the request 11 times, either in writing or in person, and then again, we have no news,” reports the mayor.
However, he does not plan to hold a referendum on the approval of the bypass in his municipality, because it would cost $15,000 to $20,000, according to him.
For its part, Transport Canada maintains the link. “The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the communities of Lac-Mégantic, Nantes and Frontenac and keeping them informed, to continuing to ensure rail safety, and to carrying out the bypass project”, writes the department in an email.
A Divided Community
The Coalition of Citizens and Organizations Engaged in Rail Safety of Lac-Mégantic recognizes that the community is divided. The group, which has around sixty active members, is itself experiencing internal debates.
“The more the project materializes, the more problems are raised about the route that was proposed, which was even dictated, because it was not the subject of a consensus from the start”, reports the coalition spokesman Robert Bellefleur.
He specifies that the neighboring municipalities of Lac-Mégantic were not consulted on the route. “They tried to make changes and it was rejected out of hand every time,” he says.
Mr. Bellefleur recalls, however, that the bypass is a project that the coalition takes to heart, because the accident took place in the context of a railway line in poor condition which is dangerous because of the slope and the curve in downtown Lac-Mégantic, he said.
On July 6, 2013, 47 people lost their lives in the worst rail tragedy in Canadian history. A train filled with crude oil had just rolled down a slope upstream from the municipality before derailing in the heart of downtown Lac-Mégantic, triggering explosions and a huge fire.
“There were 47 victims who lost their lives in this tragedy, and currently, there are collateral victims, who will have to sacrifice their quality of life, even their land and their house, because we are imposing a route that will pass through them and that will have long-term impacts on the environment,” explains Mr. Bellefleur.
For all these reasons, the coalition has withdrawn its support for the current project, although it still supports the principle of a railroad that bypasses downtown Lac-Mégantic.
“Originally, the bypass project was intended to be a social healing project. The population of the Lac-Mégantic region was hard hit psychologically by this tragedy. Then, because the file was, in our opinion, mishandled […]we are in the process of making it a project of social division”, affirms the spokesperson of the coalition.
In Quebec, the government says it is “sensitive to the progress of work on the Lac-Mégantic bypass”.
“We know how difficult these memories are for the people of Mégantic and the people of Estrie. Our government has said it, we are going to be there for our people. We are in regular contact with the federal government on this subject, which is in charge of the project, ”said the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility in an email.
The Canadian Pacific (CP), which finalized the acquisition in 2019-2020 of Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ), refuses for its part any comment in this file. In an email, CP indicated that “the Lac-Mégantic bypass project is a Transport Canada rail relocation initiative. Environmental impacts and mitigation measures are addressed by Transport Canada as part of the process. »
“The population wants to protect itself from death trains, there is no solution that has been put in place, even ten years after the tragedy, deplores Mr. Bellefleur. How do you expect a population to recover under these conditions? »
The municipalities of Lac-Mégantic and Frontenac were unable to comment due to the holiday break.