The future composting platform to be built in Saint-Télesphore, according to the wishes of the MRC's elected representatives, caused quite a stir at the Coteau-du-Lac municipal council meeting on Tuesday, October 10. 

District 2 councillor François Vallières, district councillor Nathalie Lemay and Patrick Delforge, who initiated the resolution, spoke out against the site chosen for the project. In a resolution, they asked the 23 elected representatives of the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the body to which the governance of the composting platform will be entrusted, to find another site for developing this environmental project. 

Councillors Alain Laprade of district 1 and Christine Arseneault of district 5 were absent from the meeting and did not comment on the issue. As for Mayor Andrée Brosseau, she did not side with her fellow councillors.

"The project site was chosen with the help of the mayor of Saint-Télesphore, David Watson McKay, and the MRC experts who have been working on the project for a long time. I'm not going to argue against them or their opinions. As far as I'm concerned, the site chosen is the right one," said Brosseau. 

Several reasons given for the resolution 

In the wording of the resolution entitled: Request for a change of site for the Vaudreuil-Soulanges composting facility, numerous considerations are given to explain this request. Here are a few of them: 

- The governance of the site will be entrusted to the 23 municipalities of the MRC, and the needs and opinions of the Municipality of Saint-Télesphore or its citizens will become highly minority, even muzzled;

- The high volume of truck traffic to be expected during the peak season, when farm machinery traffic is already high, as well as the heavy vehicle traffic associated with sand truck and farm center activities;

- The high level of social acceptability, as expressed by the local population and neighbouring municipalities;

- The composting site project is to be built on land that is already wooded and zoned agricultural, all subject to conditions issued by the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec; 

- The site's neighbors have expressed their concerns and reservations about the eventual development of the composting site, which could grow exponentially, given the immense public needs and the current philosophy of residual waste recovery in our MRCVS and/or in other towns or MRCs;

- It will have to take in residues from grocery stores, all new residences and future constructions in the MRC VS, multi-dwelling buildings, restaurant centers, plus unaccounted-for green materials, all without the Municipality of Saint-Télesphore ever being able to exercise any checks and balances, being a minority member of the MRC VS and in its governance;

- Currently, compost from the West Island is sent to Moose Creek, Ontario; 

- The significant increase in trucking on the roads is a creation of additional carbon dioxide, all contrary to the philosophy put forward;

- The site will be located far from the largest composting producers, such as Vaudreuil-Dorion, Pincourt, Île-Perrot, etc. 

"I have to make it clear that I'm not against the composting platform. I think we need projects like this. But from my point of view, the site chosen by the MRC is not the right one for the platform. I went to see for myself, and we're talking about an old quarry-sandpit where there's a water table and an esker that supplies drinking water to three municipalities in the region: Saint-Télesphore, Saint-Polycarpe and Rivière-Beaudette", indicated Mr. Delforge.

He also deplored the fact that the project, in its current form, will destroy a wetland. "In my opinion, the most appropriate location for this project would be an industrial park. I'm disappointed that the 23 mayors of the MRC approved the site without actually going to see it. I'm not comfortable with the project when I think back to the young people who came here a few months ago with the Generations Chair. They asked us to stop clearing land, moving animals and wetlands. They want us to consider their future in our decisions, which is why I've tabled this resolution." 

It should be noted that the municipal councils of Saint-Polycarpe and Sainte-Justine-de-Newton also passed a resolution against the site location at their meeting on Tuesday, October 10.