Battle brewing against QSL terminal in Beauport
Battle brewing against QSL terminal in Beauport
Battle brewing against QSL terminal in Beauport
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
The plan for a large new container terminal in the Baie de Beauport is still on the drawing board, but opposition to the project is already mounting.
QSL, the Quebec City-based cargo-handling giant, is float- ing a plan to create the terminal on land on which it already has bulk-loading operations that would handle up to 250,000 containers annually.
The company announced the rough outline of the project in June, having submitted a request to the federal government last year to expand customs operations in the Port of Quebec.
“If this condition is met, QSL will then be able to finalize a detailed business plan that it will submit to senior governments,” a company prospectus says.
There is no indication of when the federal government might respond to the request. Once it does secure the necessary government approvals, QSL said it could have the new facility up and running within six months.
Last week, a spokesperson for Québec MP and federal minister of public services and procurement Jean-Yves Duclos told Radio-Canada, “We will be able to provide more details on the project once it has been submitted to the government of Canada and a thorough analysis has been carried out.”
Guillaume Bertrand said, “Air quality, the environment and the impacts on the residents of Lower Town Quebec remain major concerns for Minister Duclos and the entire government when assessing projects.”
Duclos was the recipient last week of a letter signed by 30 groups and individuals calling for Ottawa to reject the QSL project.
The new container terminal project comes three years after the federal government killed the Laurentia terminal plan in the same industrial area of Beauport because of the threat it posed to the environment. By comparison to the QSL plan, the Laurentia project envisioned handling 700,000 containers annually.
QSL is prepared to make an initial investment of some $30 million to transform bulk cargo handling space into a container facility.
In announcing the plan, QSL president Robert Bellisle vowed it would be “an exemplary project from an environmental point of view … and meeting the principles of acceptability for the surrounding communities.”
Still, QSL and project supporters such as Port of Quebec officials and some municipal leaders will have some persuading to do regarding the environmental impact of the terminal project.
The project has already gotten a thumbs-down from the Port Activities Monitoring Committee, the city-funded watchdog of potentially environmentally negative developments in the port.
According to a Radio-Canada report, at a Nov. 21 meeting of the committee, members approved a resolution opposing the new terminal. The wording of the motion has not been made public.
The two city councillors who are members of the committee were absent for the vote, Radio-Canada reported. Executive committee member Marie-Josée Asselin chairs the committee, and fellow executive committee member Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc is a voting member. The other absent voting member was the representative of the regional environmental council.
Representatives of six neighbourhood councils on the committee voted against the project. There are six other non-voting members of the committee, representing government agencies.
Mayor Bruno Marchand has been cautious in his endorsement of the QSL project. When it was announced in June, Marchand said he “welcomed the intentions” of the project. “The activities of the Port of Quebec are essential to the region’s economy and important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is normal that they adapt to the changing needs of supply chains.”
Last week Marchand reiterated his conditional support of the project. Speaking to reporters at an event Nov. 25, the mayor said, “The best way to kill the economy” is to op- pose economic development projects “without knowing all the details.”
Limoilou Coun. and Transition Québec Leader Jackie Smith took Marchand to task for his support of the project.
In a statement to the QCT, Smith said, “What I’m hearing is a mayor criticizing the position of neighbourhood councils, telling them to wait until the project is irreversible before opposing it. No, the future of our city does not depend on the growth of port activities. Our citizens have nothing to gain from a new container ter- minal that will increase heavy truck traffic and compromise Phase 4 of the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain.”
Isabelle Roy, city councillor for the Robert-Giffard district in which the QSL project is located, and a member of the official Opposition Québec d’abord party, told the QCT, “I am sensitive to the concerns raised by citizens, particularly the issue of trucking and its impacts on air quality. Currently, I do not have enough information to take a position for or against it. In order to learn more about the project, the official Opposition has requested a meeting with QSL.”
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