Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Before I begin, I want to say I was shocked to learn the City of Shannon was being summoned to appear before the committee to talk about the contamination it's been dealing with for 20 years. The only reason people hear about this situation is because there's a monitoring committee, among other things, but it's still surprising. The committee wants to hear from people about contaminated sites, and I have a lot of questions about that objective. Is it to improve communications or to ensure we can speed up the processes?
Shannon experienced a massive trichloroethylene, or TCE, contamination exactly 26 years ago. I'd say that's one of the great contaminations to happen in Canada. Actually, 26 years ago, the city was informed of a major contamination. The federal government didn't detect it, at least it didn't send the contamination notice; the provincial government did. The Direction de santé publique de la Capitale nationale conducted a water analysis in many Shannon residences. I assume provincial government representatives suspected the contamination at the time. I don't want to ascribe motives to anyone in this case, but the notice came from the Quebec government. You can imagine the shock and horror in the city, because everyone had artesian wells. I can attest to that, because I was living in Shannon at the time. I became an MPP a few years later. This is an issue I am very familiar with, that's why I took the time to tell you a bit of the story.
That contamination is extremely serious. I'll spare you the details, but obviously, people in the city were notified immediately and everyone stopped drinking the water. The federal government partnered with the Direction de santé publique du Québec to implement mitigation processes while we waited for a solution. The solution was to set up a water system, which cost the federal government nearly $35 million. It paid for everything. It also set up a monitoring committee, which still exists. Coincidentally, I received a reminder today that I'm to appear before the monitoring committee on TCE contamination on June 2.
All this has put a damper on the relationship between the federal government and the City of Shannon. It fuelled concerns and shattered relationships that were already weak. I'd like to remind everyone that in 1914, Shannon wasn't a city. Large parts of the territory were expropriated to welcome 60,000 to 70,000 residents. Today, Shannon has barely 10,000 residents.
All that to say things were done after the contamination, but Shannon is still closely associated with it. When you talk about Shannon, you talk about TCE. That's still the reaction of those who come and settle in our region.
Twenty-six years later, the ground is still contaminated.
As I said earlier, there's a monitoring committee. This large committee brings together 40 to 50 individuals from various backgrounds, including environmental groups, representatives of National Defence and the Quebec government, as well as a citizens' group. I'll spare you the number of experts that sit on this committee. Meetings are often cancelled. I've been mayor for four years, and I've attended only four or five meetings. There should be two a year. There will be one on June 2. The previous one, which was supposed to take place last fall, was cancelled.
All that to say despite this large committee and lots of research, the ground is still contaminated. I'm really trying to understand where we're headed. Is it possible to decontaminate the ground in Shannon and the region? TCE concentrations are high. The water flows to the river. I'll spare you the details, but the monitoring committee wasn't set up yesterday. Is continuing the research on decontamination 26 years later just a way to ease people's conscience? Is decontamination really possible? I honestly wonder. I know a lot of money has been invested.
I also want to talk about our relationship with National Defence. I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to say I'm not as prepared as an organization of 30,000 or 40,000 people would be. I'm mayor of a small town of 7,000 residents. I don't have a lot of employees.
So I [Technical difficulty—Editor]. It's difficult for cities like ours to work with national defence. Its hierarchy is heavy. It's not agile. We're the ones responsible for its water and sewer systems, among other things. It's a very difficult situation, even though the representatives, like the commander—they change every two years—are always very friendly.
However, it's still a difficult relationship when it comes to this file. There's also an issue with unexploded ammunition on land adjacent to Shannon. As a result, areas where people used to walk 15 or 20 years ago are off limits. Today, those areas are being used by dirt bikes and ATVs. They're near residences, and we have no control over them. People are complaining. National Defence has closed off those areas, but it can't ensure a complete closure, because it's too complicated to supervise. These are big areas.
All that to say, today, in 2026, the major issues we have with national defence have nothing to do with our relationship. They're more related to hierarchy or agility. We have big issues with national defence. It's going to build 1,100 housing units, and we weren't really informed. There are a lot of issues.
I've set the table. I look forward to your questions.