JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report
As Hydro-Québec carries out its action plan to manage vegetation around above-ground power lines in St. Lazare, both the crown corporation and the municipality are asking for more cooperation from homeowners when it comes to vegetation management on private property. This comes in the wake of another heavy rain and wind storm at the end of April knocked out power for hundreds in St. Lazare and the surrounding municipalities.
“We need everyone to chip in,” said Mayor Geneviève Lachance in an interview, urging homeowners to permit Hydro-Québec’s arboricultural technicians and forestry engineers to fell trees on their properties that pose a risk to the power lines. “In order to reduce the outages, they (residents) need to allow Hydro-Québec to intervene when needed.”
Hydro-Québec shared the same sentiment in a statement issued last month: “Given the amount of vegetation in St. Lazare, it’s not surprising that many power outages are attributable to vegetation coming into contact with the power grid (. . . ) Every homeowner can make a real difference by accepting to the clearing and felling of trees that pose a risk to public safety.”
For the past two years, Hydro-Québec has been carrying out an action plan focused on St. Lazare, aiming to keep the power network clear of branches, trees and other vegetation. The corporation’s team carried out 2,724 vegetation management assignments in St. Lazare in 2024.
Another storm leaves hundreds without power
A powerful thunderstorm April 29 led to several toppled trees and power outages for hundreds of residents in Vaudreuil-Soulanges. Hydro-Québec estimated that more than 430 dwellings – most in St. Lazare – went without power for more about two days.
This is not a new phenomenon. Hydro-Québec determined that the town experienced 308 power outages that lasted longer than five minutes in 2024, 117 of which were specifically attributed to interference from falling trees and branches.
The corporation noted that there had also been 67 instances where residents refused or simply ignored requests from Hydro-Québec workers to fell trees on their property that posed a risk to the power lines.
“You need one person to refuse and it’s their tree that takes down a (power) line,” Lachance said.
Under Quebec’s Tree Protection Act, Hydro-Québec workers are unable to fell trees on private property unless they are given permission from property owners or if the tree is actively interfering with the electrical network.
“When a landowner refuses a felling order for a tree identified as being at risk for the network, they are putting the entire downstream section of the power line at risk of future outages,” said Francis Richard, Hydro-Québec’s head of Vegetation Control, in the statement. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” he added.