The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the City of Blainville’s request on Wednesday to suspend the province’s expropriation of land belonging to the city for use as a hazardous waste dump.
The Court of Appeal deferred to the arguments raised by the Superior Court in a judgment rendered on April 2.
It concluded that “the balance of convenience does not favour the city’s position.”
The American company Stablex will therefore be able to continue its work to expand its dump on land previously owned by the city, in order to store waste there for approximately 40 additional years, despite Blainville’s opposition, which wished to continue protecting the nine hectares of wetlands and 58 hectares of wooded areas.
According to the court, the evidence presented by the Quebec Attorney General and Stablex “amply demonstrates the urgency of continuing the work, given that, in the near future, the capacity of the currently active fifth cell will be reached and that a new cell must be urgently installed to receive the materials before the capacity of the fifth cell is reached.”
Stablex’s industrial waste treatment centre currently includes a treatment plant and five landfill cells, and the company plans to build a sixth cell.
Deforestation work began in recent days.
“In reality, it is clear that there will be environmental harm if Stablex proceeds with the work, but not building the sixth cell would also have significant environmental consequences,” the judgment issued Wednesday stated.
In a brief written statement on Wednesday, the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC) and the City of Blainville stated that they “take note of the Court of Appeal’s decision not to hear their case in the Stablex matter and are currently evaluating their options with their legal teams.”
Adoption under a gag order
At the end of March, the Legault government pushed through Bill 93 by accelerating the process.
The MNAs passed the bill by a vote of 61 to 31. The three opposition parties rejected the bill.
From the beginning of this saga, the City of Blainville proposed another adjacent site for the landfill expansion, an option rejected by both the government and the company, who considered it too close, 300 metres from a residential area.
Furthermore, the expansion project would cost Stablex $150 million on the land it wants, rather than $250 million on the land proposed by the city: the company has stored tons of clay there, and it would therefore cost an additional $100 million to transport this material elsewhere.
An interim control by-law (RCI) is in effect on both sites; these are areas partially protected by the Montreal Metropolitan Community due to the wetlands there.
Stablex, for its part, argues that it must expand to serve its Quebec customers and that, to avoid a service interruption, preparatory work, which includes tree removal, must begin no later than spring 2025.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 16, 2025.
Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press
