Quebec mayors want more help protecting their water from resource drilling

A group of 338 mayors — representing close to half of Quebec's population — are demanding the provincial government help them keep resource companies further away from their water supplies.

They issued a stern message at a meeting Saturday in Drummondville: When it comes to fighting for their most precious resource, they won't back down.

The mayors are concerned about a 2015 law that allows exploratory companies to drill as close as 500 metres away from waterways.

That's not far enough, they say, and are asking for an exemption to the law that would allow them to extend that distance to two kilometres.

"Drinking water is one of the first responsibilities for any municipal government," said François Boulay, mayor of Ristigouche Sud-Est, Que.

"The issue with contamination of the water table is that once it's been contaminated, there is no going back."

Towns fighting off lawsuits from mining companies

Some Quebec municipalities have been forced to wage legal battles in order to protect their water supplies from resource companies who want to drill nearby. 

Ristigouche Sud-Est recently won a landmark Superior Court decision against the oil-and-gas company Gastem. The company had sued the tiny municipality in the Gaspé after it passed bylaws that banned drilling within two kilometres of the wells of residents. 

A small community in the Laurentians, Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, is currently facing a similar lawsuit. Vancouver-based Canada Carbon announced it is taking steps to sue the town for $96 million — five times its annual budget — for rezoning agricultural land targeted for exploration. 

The municipalities meeting Saturday in Drummondville are contesting the science behind the provincial law. They believe the risk of contamination is still high when drilling occurs 500 metres risks from a water supply.

"We've been claiming this is inadequate, fully inadequate, and have been trying to obtain a response from the Quebec environment minister," said Boulay.

He added that he's met twice with Environment Ministry officials. He met Environment Minister Isabelle Melançon last week. Boulay described the meeting as "positive" and said she committed to follow up in April.

But the group of mayors will also vote on whether to increase the pressure on the Liberal government by asking a judge to review how the 2015 law has been applied.

Strained government relations

Scott Pearce, the mayor of the Township of Gore, 90 kilometres northwest of Montreal, said relations between municipalities and the province have been strained for the last few years.

"When it's close to election time, they come and pat us on our heads and tell us how good we are. But in the meantime, they ignore the things that we find important for our communities across Quebec," said Pearce.

He said people move to areas like the Laurentians because of the high quality of life, and preserving water quality is part of their appeal.

"Our lakes, our streams, our rivers," he said. "Rural Quebec, that's what we are."

A spokesperson for the Environment Ministry told CBC News on Friday that the environment minister is approaching this issue with "openness."

She said the ministry plans to meet with municipal officials the week of April 9.