A proposed expansion of a Quebec landfill that accepts hazardous waste from the United States has sparked a heated dispute between the provincial government and local leaders. The move to expand the Stablex facility, a US-owned company that treats and stores hazardous waste, has angered residents and officials in the Montreal suburb of Blainville, who oppose using local land for American trash.
The Quebec government has introduced a bill to force the city of Blainville to sell a piece of city-owned forest land to facilitate the expansion, arguing that the waste site is running out of space and needs to be expanded quickly. However, local leaders have fiercely opposed the plan, saying the province is capitulating to a US company in the midst of a trade war between Canada and the United States.
“We are not the trash can of the United States,” said Ruba Ghazal, an opposition member of Quebec’s parliament, at a press conference. She criticised the ruling conservative party for “expropriating a city to give it to Trump’s United States.”
The issue has gained attention following an investigation by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, which showed the US ships more than a million tons of hazardous waste to Canada and Mexico each year. This has sparked growing opposition to these waste exports, especially as Canadians are increasingly voicing their displeasure with the policies of the Trump administration.
Blainville Mayor Liza Poulin said she couldn’t understand why the government wants to expropriate the land for the benefit of an American company, “especially when we have an alternative solution.” Local officials argue that the company can instead develop a less environmentally sensitive site nearby that is owned by the Quebec government.
The Stablex landfill, a subsidiary of the US waste company Republic Services, has operated in Blainville since 1983. In 2023, it received more than 5,000 tons of contaminated soil and sludge from the US, as well as 28,000 tons of various substances including cyanide, mercury, and nitric acid.
The dispute has highlighted the tensions between the provincial government and local authorities, as well as the broader concerns over Canada’s role in handling hazardous waste from the United States. As the trade war between the two countries continues, the issue of toxic waste shipments has become a flashpoint in the broader political and economic tensions.