Inspectors from Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment are increasingly less likely to go on-site to observe pollution incidents or identify deficiencies. The Legault government says this is due to the pandemic.
Three years ago, the ministry allowed projects found to pose a low environmental risk to be carried out without the need to obtain ministerial approval; a simple declaration of conformity (new window) from the organizer was sufficient. Minister Benoit Charette reiterated that this reform would allow his teams to focus on higher risk projects.
But that’s not the case: the number of inspections of these riskier projects is decreasing every year, data obtained by Radio-Canada shows.
Last year, the ministry issued 2,302 permits or permits for projects that risk damaging the environment. Of these, 817 checks took place, 494 of which were on site. This means that the ministry’s inspectors verified the compliance of the projects on site in less than a quarter of the dossiers, even though they were classified as medium or high risk.
The data published by the Access to Documents Law shows that the number of these checks has continuously decreased since the 2020 reform.
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However, Minister Benoit Charette had promised (New window) that the reform would pay more attention to the issues [sic] more important from an ecological point of view.
Regional directorates and the ministry now have more time to focus on projects that have a real impact on the environment.
According to the president of the Syndicat de la service publique et parapublic du Québec (SFPQ), Christian Daigle, who represents the approximately 300 inspectors who work for the Ministry of the Environment, the minister’s speech is contradictory. In his opinion, we should conduct an audit for each of these 2,300 files.
This is completely absurd. […] Pollution permits are issued. The ministry must be the supervisory authority.
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Christian Daigle, president of the Quebec Public and Parapublic Service Union
Photo: Radio-Canada
The office of Minister Benoit Charette confirms that a decline is being observed and attributes this in particular to the restrictions on interventions that the pandemic restrictions have brought about.
2023 is still underway and we will wait for the results before drawing any conclusions.
For its part, the Ministry ensures that the number of compliance inspections carried out annually is significant, noting that these inspections have resulted in the reporting of 167 violations and the imposition of 15 administrative penalties.
The Ministry defines a compliance inspection as the first comprehensive review of compliance with the obligations, conditions, restrictions and prohibitions of an environmental permit. However, it is recalled that further inspections may be carried out throughout the life of a project (e.g. following a complaint or during an inspection) and that these inspections give rise to a partial or full review of compliance with the permit.
We have therefore analyzed all inspections of all types and found that the presence of inspectors on site has also decreased.
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The number of on-site inspections has fallen by 27% since the CAQ came to power, while the number of inspections conducted from offices has increased by 35%.
Before 2018, “ Inspections » off-site were not considered as such Inspections
Since the CAQ took office, the Ministry’s definition of “inspection” includes any inspection carried out remotely (off-site) by an inspector, for example by telephone or computer. This calculation method is denounced by the inspectors and their union.
Before 2018, the ministry referred to these inspections not as external inspections, but as “non-inspection checks.”
In a 2020 letter to the SFPQ, a copy of which we have obtained, a deputy minister assures that, despite the reform, compliance inspections will remain at the heart of the ministry’s concerns.
He was also convinced that the number of resources in each regional directorate enabled adequate monitoring and control of compliance with environmental laws.
By analyzing all compliance inspections, regardless of risk level (low, medium or high), we find that their number on site has been in free fall in recent years.
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Last year, project promoters sent 2,117 certificates of compliance to the ministry to initiate projects deemed low-risk to the environment. Of these, there were 710 compliance checks, of which only 102 took place on site.
The ministry assures that a small proportion of the project promoters’ declarations turn out to be non-compliant. Last year, compliance reached 95.5%.
A case has already been reported that shows that declarations of conformity have their limits. For example, the construction site on Boulevard Béliveau in Longueuil was approved by Quebec thanks to a simple declaration of compliance from the city, even though it threatened the protected species of chorus frogs. The federal government had to issue an emergency decree to stop the work.
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Work on Béliveau Boulevard in Longueuil in 2021
Photo: Radio-Canada
In 2019, Radio-Canada announced that inspectors had begun conducting more “offsite inspections” than onsite inspections. The phenomenon has accelerated, with twice as many inspections conducted off-site (19,298) as on-site (10,167) last year.
I used to go out two to three times a week, but now I go out once or twice a month, for example, said an inspector.
According to the Environment Ministry, there are 318 inspectors in its ranks, an increase from 269 five years ago. However, instead, the union claims that as of September 20, 2023, only 272 inspectors were paid a salary, excluding absences due to health problems, parental leave and unpaid retirement, compared to 278 five years earlier.