On Tuesday, November 14, some sixty people from Saint-Télesphore and surrounding municipalities gathered at the town council meeting. Their objective? To submit a petition to express their overwhelming opposition to the construction of a composting plant by the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the Saint-Télesphore/Rivière-Beaudette/Saint-Polycarpe esker sector.

The group of citizens committed to protecting the Esker River has submitted a copy of a petition with 971 signatures, 350 of which are from Saint-Télesphore residents. 

For Mélanie Pilon, one of the citizens responsible for collecting signatures for the petition, the message is clear. " Our petition is an unequivocal message to our municipal council. The petition was signed by 59% of the local population aged 15 and over!  " 

The day after the meeting, Ms. Pilon has several observations to make. "The question period was respectful. During the question period, we received confirmation that the municipal councillors are not aware of the details of the project, and that they lack a great deal of information. Several councillors questioned us on the subject following the submission of the petition, which is not normal. We hope that the petition will have some weight in the elected officials' thinking about the project," she adds. 

A resolution to designate a new site for the project 

On the agenda for this Tuesday, November 14, two subjects concerned the future composting platform. The first was to adopt a resolution asking the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC to ensure that, if it goes ahead with the project, "the environmental standards associated with it will be respected and even far exceeded". 

The second resolution came from the group of citizens committed to protecting the Esker. Its purpose was to ask the municipal council to ask the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges to designate a new, suitable and safe site for their composting platform project. 

"The population is asking their municipal council to represent them and take a position that reflects the opinion of their citizens, we want our mayor to tell the MRC that we don't want the platform near l'Esker on the chosen site," she adds. 

In the end, the resolution was not adopted, the mayor preferring to postpone it to a later meeting when more information on the project would be available. 

The Esker sector of Saint-Télesphore / Rivière-Beaudette / Saint-Polycarpe is a rich natural environment, with its fauna, flora, sandy soil and extremely pure groundwater.

Thanks to its highly permeable soil, the esker area is one of the few places in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC where rainwater can recharge the water table. "It's a very fragile and vulnerable environment that is both vital and essential to the population," continues Ms. Pilon.

She adds that citizens "are not against the project being set up in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, but not on the site selected by the MRC, because we want to ensure that this water source is protected for future generations. The platform must be located in an industrial park on clay soil close to the major cities where most of the material is produced."

The mayor of Saint-Télesphore, David Watson McKay, promised to ask questions of the MRC in order to shed light on all citizens' fears. He also pledged to try to obtain a veto over the environmental project from the regional body. 

"Protecting the environment is very important to me, and you can be sure that I won't sign anything until I'm sure that the project won't compromise the esker and the environment. I'm probably the proudest citizen of my village and I want to keep it that way," concluded the chief magistrate. 

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/protection.esker.

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Composting platform: "Represent us in front of the MRC".

Composting platform: 120 people attend first meeting in Saint-Télesphore

Saint-Télesphore's future composting platform receives attention at MRC board meeting