Blainville and CMM to challenge Bill 93 in court over Stablex landfill expansion

The Quebec Legislative Assembly, Saturday March 29, 2008 in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot) (JACQUES BOISSINOT/Canadian Press)

The Montreal metropolitan community (CMM) and the City of Blainville intend to go to court to challenge Bill 93, which would allow Stablex to expand its landfill site.

In a press release, the CMM and the City of Blainville wrote that they had “informed the Attorney General of Quebec on Monday of their intention to file an application with the Superior Court for a stay of application of the Act in order to contest its legality and constitutionality.”

The American company Stablex plans to create a sixth landfill on land belonging to the town of Blainville.

Even though its project was rejected by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) in the fall of 2023, the Legault government tabled Bill 93 last February to expropriate the city at a cost of $17 million in order to sell the land in question to Stablex, which handles hazardous materials from the United States.

The land sought by Stablex includes nice hectares of wetlands and 58 hectares of woodland. According to the BAPE, this is a natural environment of exceptional quality that is home to plants, amphibians and reptiles of special status.

“This area of the Blainville bog is of regional and metropolitan ecological importance and is part of the largest complex of non-riparian wetlands in Greater Montreal, covering more than 600 hectares. Several species of flora and fauna of precarious status have been identified there, including nearly 200 species of birds,” according to the CMM.

The CMM is also calling on the government “to respect interim control by-law (RCI) 2022-96, which prohibits the destruction of natural environments covered by it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 17, 2025.