Thank you.
You know my name. It's written here. I've lived in the city of Laval for 20 years. I've lived in different areas of the city. In recent years, the noise from airplanes flying over our homes has increased. I've noticed this more since I became a consultant and I have the option of working from home. The noise is unacceptable. Laval is a suburb of Montreal. We purchase homes in Laval to live in peace and quiet, but we're not finding this in the city.
Airport management has been privatized for the next 60 years. I gather that all the companies involved, such as NAV CANADA and ADM, couldn't care less about the public.
At this time, airplanes must climb to 1,000 m before they can make a turn. That's what they do. When airplanes reach this altitude, they're 10 km from Dorval airport, so they turn directly over us. Since the airplanes are climbing, the manouevre is performed at maximum thrust. According to my noise level surveys, the noise increases to 65 decibels and sometimes reaches 80 decibels. Laval is a quiet suburb where regulations are supposed to limit noise to 55 decibels. However, the noise level is often above this standard. This prevents us from making full use of our yard in the summer. Even in the colder seasons, when the windows are closed, we still hear all the rumbling. All the accompanying sounds enter the house. I don't want to be forced to build a bunker to escape the noise. I don't see any other solutions at this point.
We had a meeting with NAV CANADA and ADM. They seemed to care on the surface. They told us that they wanted to help us and to resolve the issues. However, we received a letter containing contradictory information. As you'll see in the appendices that will be handed out to you, the number of flights, the flight altitude and the flight schedule are indicated. Some flights are also late in the evening or at night. There are more and more flights. The number of flights is increasing at a rate of 7% a year. That's a huge amount of traffic. For people who live in the suburbs, this is completely unacceptable. I feel very sorry for all the people who live in Montreal and who endure this at an even more severe level. However, that's Montreal. I don't know the solution for Montreal, but we must find solutions for Laval.
NAV CANADA isn't listening. Minister Garneau also wrote a letter that doesn't show any willingness to take action. I'm very surprised that a government has no oversight over private companies. I don't think that's true. I think that the government has oversight over everything happening in communities and in the country. In the appendices, you'll also find the letter from Mr. Garneau and other statistics. Whenever the winds come from the northeast or east, airplanes take off and fly over our area. Laval isn't part of Montreal. Laval doesn't benefit in any way from the economic impact of the airport.
I heard another witness talk about Mirabel and call it a white elephant. That's all well and good, but I used to use the airport back in the day, and it worked well. The decision to move flights from Mirabel to Dorval to be closer to Montreal was a business decision.
I want to thank the committee for working to ensure that citizens are respected. I hope that this will lead somewhere.