Patrice Bergeron, The Canadian Press

QUEBEC — The Legault government is encouraging cities to test and improve air quality on their territory.

Environment Minister Benoit Charette is urging local authorities to follow suit from the city of Quebec, which on Tuesday presented a report on air quality and a four-year action plan to intervene.

It is usually the Ministry of the Environment that has air quality measurement stations, and air quality is not the responsibility of local authorities.

But in early 2022, the City of Quebec decided to address the problems of airborne pollutants and particles in the Limoilou sector, particularly nickel, due to numerous allegations by residents of the sector and being harassed by a mysterious “red dust”.

The Legault government backed the city’s approach and at a press conference at the capital’s city hall on Tuesday midday, Mr Charette appealed to other municipalities.

“As far as Quebec City leadership is concerned, other municipalities are completely free to do the same. We’re encouraging them, that’s for sure,” said the environment minister, along with Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand and Quebec Port big boss Mario Girard — often accused of being responsible for Limoilou’s pollution.

“The Department of Environment will always stand by local authorities on these issues,” added Mr Charette, who gave no indication of the funds the government could allocate to them for this purpose.

accountability

Mr Marchand went in the same direction by calling for accountability.

“We all have a responsibility, we can’t say: It’s up to the other person, not me,” he said.

“Do we have to name a culprit? If we name a culprit, it means other companies and other websites can take action. It’s easy to say: It’s not up to me, it’s up to the other person. We all have a role to play.”

About ten sampling stations were deployed in Quebec from October to December 2022 to collect data, including two by the ministry, three by the city and five by the Port of Quebec.

Finding: Air pollution in the region comes from three main sources: traffic, wood-burning stoves and construction sites.

There were no breaches of the “24-hour standard” for nickel of 70 nanograms per cubic metre.

There was only one exceedance of the “24 hour standard” for total suspended particulate matter (TSP).

Mr Girard believes this is the result of new nickel concentrate offloading methods being introduced by Glencore, which are much more stringent.

For his part, Mr Charette said he was comforted. The government’s controversial decision to raise nickel air standards in Quebec, while upset, was based on science.

“We were very well supported by the course. What we said then, we can repeat with even more support.