A public study on the impact of toxic waste from Stablex in Blainville has just been released, more than a year after the initial tests. Its conclusion is surprising: nothing exceeds Canadian environmental standards. This result contradicts tests conducted by a citizen coalition fighting against the multinational corporation and raises questions about a possible conflict of interests.
Quebec’s Environment Minister and Blainville mayor Liza Poulin both announced that they had conducted water and air quality tests around the Stablex site in 2024 and 2025. These tests were then analyzed by the company Solmatech, which reassured the various levels of government.
The Blainville Citizens’ Coalition Against Stablex Cell #6 claims that the tests and research undertaken have revealed that several hazardous substances, such as mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, are present in the soil and air surrounding the plant. The company’s landfill process is also potentially dangerous.
In response, the city states on its website that its sampling methods, procedures, and interpretations do not follow the department’s standardized procedures and that “the department has reached different conclusions, namely that the methodology used by the citizen campaign to interpret the results has led to an overestimation of the risks.”
The citizen coalition’s analysis was conducted by Daniel Green, an ecotoxicologist with 30 years of experience, in a laboratory accredited by the Ministry of the Environment, Bureau Veritas.
“He knows, depending on the situation, which standards of the Montreal metropolitan community he should use to evaluate the results. This ensures our credibility, confidence, and solid results,” explains Marie-Claude.
And while the coalition’s analyses appear reliable, those of the city and the Ministry of the Environment raise questions about a possible conflict of interest. The public tests were conducted by Solmatech, a company owned by the multinational Englobe. This company was also hired by Stablex to conduct its own environmental impact studies.
“How could Solmatech produce a report that would harm the interests of Stablex and therefore Englobe, when its own commercial activities are linked to them?” This question can be found in a press release from Climat Québec on the subject.
This is the second time Mayor Poulin has hired an external firm with financial ties to Stablex. Following the alarming analyses conducted by the citizen group last spring, the same thing happened, as mentioned in the press release:
“Rather than acknowledging these results, the mayor hired an external firm, Imausar, to conduct a counter-analysis, a firm headed by a former Stablex employee, which concluded—unsurprisingly—that everything was fine.”
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