There's enough garbage for everybody

The Bourque administration managed to squeak its garbage-export plan through city council last week, despite opposition arguments that the plan makes little economic or ecological sense.

Beginning January 1, 1999, Montreal will begin shipping about 40 per cent of its garbage to off-island landfills, with the rest going to the city-owned Miron dump. The deal is a five-year contract that will cost the city $100 million.

Jacques Duchesneau's New Montreal party, the official opposition at city hall, voted against the plan. Party spokesperson Marc Snyder claims that it will cost $12 million more than the current system, due to increased trash-shipping costs and higher dumping fees charged by private landfill operators.

Worst of all, says councillor Marvin Rotrand of the Democratic Coalition, the plan is a cynical attempt to hoodwink St-Michel voters: by slowing down the amount of garbage headed to Miron, it will take even more years to fill the dump. "St-Michel residents are being given the impression that the site will close imminently, whereas it's going to be open for far longer than if this garbage hadn't been diverted," says Rotrand.

The vote passed despite the fact that mayor Pierre Bourque's party holds a minority of seats on council: two councillors from the St-Michel area, independent Daniel Boucher and the MCM's Vittorio Capparelli (formerly of Vision Montreal), also voted in favour of the plan.

Opponents also criticized the Bourque administration for the lack of public consultation on the plan. To correct that situation somewhat, local ecological activists Action Re-Buts will hold a public debate on Montreal's waste management policies on Monday, October 19, at 7 p.m., at 6501 François-Perrault. Info: 521-0891.

-Wayne Hiltz