Montreal, November 5, 2020
TRANSMISSION BY EMAIL
Madame Sonia Lebel, Minister responsible for Government Administration
President of the Treasury Board
Treasury Board Secretariat
875, Grande-Allée Est, 4e floor, sector 100
Québec (Québec) G1R 2R8
Madame Andrée Laforest, Minister
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Jean-Baptiste-De La Salle Building
10, rue Pierre-Olivier-Chauveau
Chauveau Wing, 4th floor
Québec (Québec) G1R 4J3
Subject: Inappropriate subsidies by the MAMH in wastewater treatment
Madam Minister,
In recent days, the Fondation Rivières has received several cases where subsidies awarded by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing within the framework of three programs go against the rules and standards which provide that this financial assistance be dedicated to resolve concrete, current problems, and not to support future real estate development projects.
This situation has the effect of reducing the money available to carry out priority sanitation works, while the problems of wastewater spills and deficient purification systems are glaring. This diversion of the purpose of funds dedicated to reducing pollution will also have the effect of encouraging municipal associations, such as the Union of Quebec Municipalities and the Fédération québécoise des municipalities, to demand even more money, while considerable sums of money are indeed available in the three aid programs in question. Here are some examples.
Municipal Water Infrastructure Fund (FIMEAU) and Saint-Hyacinthe
The city of Saint-Hyacinthe has just obtained a grant for a project to bring the wastewater treatment plant up to standard. This project is subsidized at the rate of 25.2 M$ out of an estimated cost of 31.5 M$, which corresponds to a subsidy of 80 %. However, reading the engineering documents shows that the majority of costs are caused by the objective of increasing the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant by 55 % in order to accommodate new real estate and industrial projects for the next 20 years. . Such work for development purposes had never been made eligible until now because the subsidies have always aimed to support municipalities in carrying out work made necessary following a tightening of environmental standards by the government. . It has always been understood that municipalities wishing to attract new projects had to assume the inherent costs. After all, it is their choice and possibly for their benefit.
Another similar case has just been announced in the City of Magog (see attached article from Reflet du Lac) which plans to abandon its wastewater treatment plant in the Omerville sector, which nevertheless has excellent treatment performance, but which wants to develop this sector and thus direct all the water to its main treatment plant, at a cost of 30 M$! She is requesting a government subsidy that the MAMH is preparing to award.
In our opinion, this is a misappropriation of funds because they will not be allocated to projects for the purpose of reducing pollution, as provided for by the rules and standards of the programs in force. However, these rules and standards explicitly mention the inadmissibility of costs aimed at increasing capacity for excessive development. However, operating data from the Saint-Hyacinthe wastewater treatment plant show that the design capacity was not reached. For that of Magog – Omerville sector, the purification performance is excellent in current conditions!
Le projet de la ville de Saint-Hyacinthe comporte une mince portion utile d’environ 4 M$ sur les 31,5 M$ afin d’ajouter un système de désinfection. Une autre portion, aussi minime, vise le remplacement d’équipements vétustes. Quelques 20 M$ sur les 25,2 M$ d’aide financière n’auraient assurément pas dû être alloués au projet, compte tenu d’un autre montant de 20,1 M$ qui aurait pu être utilisé dans le programme de la Taxe sur l’essence et de la contribution du Québec (TECQ).
With such precedents, what will prevent Saint-Liguori in the MRC Montcalm, which is demanding significant agricultural rezoning, from taking advantage of this breach to reduce its real estate development costs?
The excise tax on gasoline and the Quebec contribution (TECQ) 2019-2023
Ce programme prévoit le versement de montants substantiels prédéterminés selon la population de chaque municipalité. Il totalise 3,4 G$, une somme astronomique, pour réaliser des travaux devant être terminés d’ici trois ans, soit le 31 décembre 2023. Or, seulement 20 % de ce budget était engagé au 30 septembre dernier. L’argent est disponible depuis 2019 mais les municipalités tardent à planifier leurs travaux d’infrastructures qui doivent cibler en priorité :
- Installation and upgrading of drinking water and sanitation equipment;
- Studies aimed at improving knowledge of municipal infrastructures;
- Renewal of drinking water and sewer pipes;
- Local roads, infrastructures linked to the management of residual materials, energy improvement of municipal buildings, municipal infrastructures for cultural, community, sports and leisure purposes, infrastructures aimed at the deployment of a high-speed internet network.
These funds could therefore have been used as a priority for replacing equipment in Saint-Hyacinthe, or for reducing the high number of wastewater spills. However, the programming of the work in Saint-Hyacinthe has not yet been agreed with the MAMH and the analysis of the files should be done globally and not in silos, by program.
Il en est de même avec la ville de Magog – secteur Omerville – qui dispose d’un montant de 9,7 M$ pour améliorer ses équipements ou pour réduire le nombre considérable de déversements dans l’environnement d’eaux usées non traitées. Le projet annoncé d’abandon des installations de traitement existantes, performantes, pour accueillir de nouveaux développements immobiliers, ne devrait pas être subventionné. À noter également qu’un terrain de camping s’est développé au fil des années très près de la station d’épuration, à 30 mètres, alors qu’un rayon de protection de 150 mètres aurait dû être appliqué par la Ville. Il est de la responsabilité de celle-ci d’appliquer des règles d’aménagement tenant compte des nuisances et d’ajuster la capacité de traitement au besoin.
In summary
The current management of projects to establish or replace municipal water infrastructure leads to significant waste of public funds and intermunicipal inequity.
Files such as those of the cities of Saint-Hyacinthe and Magog even show that subsidies should not be awarded. Until now, it was not permitted for public funds to be used to support real estate developments. The government even subsidizes urban sprawl in certain cases.
We note that several municipal organizations are demanding additional budgets even though there are funds available, and even unused, in the PRIMEAU and TECQ programs. An organizational reframing must therefore be carried out so that financial aid is allocated as a priority to current pollution problems.
Hoping that this information will allow you to intervene adequately with the ministries concerned, I remain available for any additional information.
Please accept, Madam Minister, the expression of our distinguished greetings.
Alain Saladzius, P.Eng., FIC
President, Fondation Rivières
Photo: Egin Akyurt/Unsplash
