6 days ago
ADM's 20-year master plan would destroy hopes for nature park north of Trudeau airport
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The Aéroports de Montréal has made public its master development plan for the next two decades, and the news is not good for those advocating for conservation of about 230 hectares of forests, wetlands and meadows north of Trudeau International Airport.
The City of Montreal, the Montreal Metropolitan Community and two dozen other municipal or borough councils on the island have passed resolutions supporting conservation of the site, while Montreal has proposed calling it the Parc-nature des Sources.
The proposed nature park would include about 60 undeveloped hectares of Montreal's former Technoparc lands in the St-Laurent borough, as well as about 170 hectares of Crown land in Dorval. Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), the not-for-profit private corporation responsible for management, operation and development of the airport, signed an 80-year lease for that Crown land with Transport Canada in 1992, and the ADM sublets 107 hectares of it to the City of Dorval for its municipal golf course.
But in its master plan document, called 'Horizon 2023-2043; An Airport Ecosystem that Benefits the Community', recently posted on the ADM website, the airport authority reveals its plan to conserve only a small, 25-hectare, previously announced wetland area. It hopes to build solar panels, store the 'fuels of the future', and otherwise develop the site of what is now the Dorval golf course and Monarch Fields.
Katherine Collin of TechnoparcOiseaux, the conservation group that has led the fight to protect the area, said her group is 'very surprised at and disappointed in' the master plan, which she has been requesting to see for the past six months, to no avail.
'What we see is worse than we could have imagined,' she said Thursday. 'Development is planned over vital habitat for endangered and threatened species, there are no buffer zones planned around current conservation areas, there will be a massive loss of green space — 130 hectares — and, with that loss, increased health risks for everyone working and living in the area.'
She said the plans are the exact opposite of what the community should expect from an organization that claims to be prioritizing sustainability.
'Paving over long-standing ecologically rich areas violates the basic precautionary principle at the heart of the conservation hierarchy, namely to above all to avoid damage — analogous to doctors' mandate to 'do no harm'. We find the document utterly insufficient to meet the needs of today's climate reality and, more importantly, the collective will of the people.'
At its annual public meeting on May 8, ADM president and director general Yves Beauchamp found himself on the defensive as members of the public showed up to question airport development plans.
About 15 members of the group Mères au front, which advocates for action on climate, biodiversity and pollution, showed up wearing neckties.
'Sometimes men in ties are listened to more than mothers who are concerned about the health and futures of their children,' explained the group's spokesperson Nathalie Ainsley before posing her question. 'Will ADM maintain its intention of destroying 100 hectares of wetlands, mature forests, of habitat for numerous endangered species, including the monarch butterfly, to build its ... decarbonization hub?'
Beauchamp responded that ADM's first concern is safety of passengers. 'So a park of this expanse, near the runways, is not compatible with the safety goals we have. So will we change our opinion? No.'
He said bird strikes on aircraft have tripled since 2019, while the number of flights had not increased. He suggested that conserving the natural space that exists now will somehow attract more birds to the area.
He noted the master plan makes official the ADM's plan to conserve a 25-hectare wetland area which the ADM calls the 'Parc des Sources' (not to be confused with the proposed 230-hectare 'Parc-nature des Sources').
'The other 140 hectares is actually the golf,' he said. 'We are not talking about wetlands we are talking about a golf (course) actually, that is being used by the City of Dorval and a field that is described as the Monarch Fields.'
He said the plan to replace green space with solar panels and buildings dedicated to storing cleaner fuels for aircraft will reduce more carbon pollution than what the green space currently sequesters.
'So what we will put on Lot 20 will have much more impact on the reduction of greenhouse gases than would preserving it as a park. But before all that, it is safety that is important. Our experts ... say we can manage the 25 hectares and that's what we've put in the plan. But we can't actually manage the 140 more hectares if they were to become a park.'
Collin points out that Beauchamp has repeatedly implied that conservation advocates are calling for creation of more green space. In fact, the whole 230-hectare area is currently green, and there are trees, grasslands and wetlands on the golf course that provide important habitat, she said.
She also noted that contrary to what ADM's website states, the government has not yet formally accepted the master plan.
'Should the federal government allow ADM's plan to move forward, the government will jeopardize its international and domestic commitments made during COP15' to protect endangered species habitat and to conserve 30 per cent of its land by 2030, she said.
That promise was repeated by King Charles III in Tuesday's Throne Speech, which laid out the new federal government's priorities.
'Nature is core to Canada's identity,' King Charles said. 'In 2022, Canada convened COP15 in Montreal, which concluded with 196 countries striking a historic agreement to protect 30 per cent of their lands, and 30 per cent of waters by 2030. To this end, the government will protect more of Canada's nature than ever before through the creation of new national parks, national urban parks, marine protected areas and other conservation initiatives.'
The City of Montreal has proposed the land north of the airport be considered for national urban park status. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney made it clear that he intends to fast-track the creation of 15 national urban parks, promised by the previous Liberal government in 2021 but not delivered.
At a campaign stop in St-Eustache on April 15, Carney was asked whether his government would consider giving national urban park status to the Parc-nature des Sources.
He said the site 'is one of the areas under consideration. We are going to drive a quick public process to make those determinations. And I'm glad you raised it because this commitment on 15 national urban parks is part of, as you referenced, a much bigger commitment on nature and biodiversity, which will help drive us towards what was a commitment ... made in Montreal for 30 per cent preservation by 2030. Progress has been made. More needs to be done. That would include national parks.'
A spokesperson for Parks Canada said the agency is currently in talks with seven cities across the country — Victoria, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Windsor, Halifax, and St. John's — about potential national urban park sites.
'No engagement or collaboration is currently underway in the Montreal area, although discussions have taken place in the past with the City of Montreal and the City of Laval,' said Robyn Hufnagel, chief of media relations for Parks Canada.
Due to Quebec laws, the creation of a national urban park in any Quebec municipality would have to be authorized by the provincial government, she noted.
The City of Montreal, meanwhile, is eager to restart talks about creating a national urban park on the island, said Alex Norris, associate member of the city's executive committee responsible for large parks.
'Our interest in creating a new national urban park in Montreal remains strong,' Norris said in a written statement to the Gazette. 'The Parc-nature des Sources is a site we have submitted, one that holds significant potential, as do other areas in the city. We stand ready to collaborate with the government and welcome their sense of urgency to accelerate the creation of these new green spaces.'
