Environment minister visits Châteauguay

The Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Benoit Charrette, was in Châteauguay on Thursday, September 22nd to reiterate his intention to protect the Châteauguay-Léry green corridor.

Alongside Coalition Avenir Québec candidate in Châteauguay, Marie-Belle Gendron, Charrette defended his mandate of the past few years by citing a collaboration with the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) and municipalities to initiate negotiations with the landowners who are suing the MRC de Roussillon and cities the of Châteauguay and Léry for $50 million. The minister also mentioned cockspur hawthorn’s recently categorization as a protected species, as well as his commitment to put in place an expropriation right for municipalities if his government is re-elected. 

Local organization reacts

Charrette delivered his speech at the Fernand-Seguin Ecological Center to the leaders of the SOS Forêt Fernand-Seguin and Héritage Saint-Bernard organizations.

Héritage Saint-Bernard executive director Luc L'Écuyer welcomed the minister's words. He said the green corridor file has been progressing at the provincial level.

“Mr. Legault came a few weeks ago to introduce Marie-Belle Gendron as a candidate and he said, 'the green corridor, to me, it's settled, we’ll protect it. All there is to do is to come to an agreement with the five landowners.’ That's what he said,” L'Écuyer explained. He pointed out that apart from those five landowners, there are still a little under 100 small plots left to buy.

“That, we are doing it with Héritage Saint-Bernard and with Nature Action-Québec, but we need support so we can take care of all that land,” he said.

L'Écuyer would like environmental groups to be able to receive annual funding, granted per the organization's mission rather than per project.

Mercier lagoons

Le Soleil de Châteauguay asked the environment minister about the Mercier lagoons and water supply issue.

“With my Municipal Affairs colleague, there is work being done to assess municipalities’ needs to see how to support them, how to assist them,” Charrette answered. “Sometimes, a few municipalities in the territory here have technical information needs, others will have financial needs to fund new infrastructure, so it is work that is currently being done.”