Summers in and mostly around Montreal could get even noisier because of new regulations proposed by the province.
The rules would make it easier for promoters to hold large-scale events.
Residents of Saint-Lambert are no strangers to noise pollution, having long claimed that major events like Osheaga or the Grand Prix, held on Ile Notre-Dame and Ile Sainte-Helene, have affected their quality of life.
Saint Lambert has been in a battle for years pitted against the City of Montreal on the matter, including an active case that's waiting to go before the courts.
The new regulation, however, that was proposed quietly by the province in June, may not help the City of Saint-Lambert in its fight.
Under 'The Environment Quality Act' drafted by Quebec, the amendment would mean that promoters of major events including fireworks competitions would no longer have to get permission to hold them and possibly create what some residents call noise pollution.
St-Lambert Mayor Alain Depatie, who is up for re-election on Sunday, said the change would make matters worse for residents.
"I'm very upset because I haven't had any help from the Quebec government since we started that dossier in 2014," he said. "There's a lack of communication between Montreal and us. They want us to remove the court case, but they don't want to give us the information about the mitigation measures they're supposed to have."
Depatie's opponent, currenct city councillor Dominique Lebeau, said the current situation during the summer is untenable.
"I live in the centre of the city. You close the doors and the windows and my spouse told me once, 'Are you kidding me? Are the doors open? But they were closed," he said. "It's super loud, it's every weekend. If the speakers were placed differently, I would say 'Well, you did your best, it's okay.' But this is not the case."
Last week on the campaign trail, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre was asked about the new ampitheatre being built on Ile-Sainte-Helene, and didn’t have much sympathy for those South Shore residents.
“To see Kent Nagano with 65,000 people, sorry for Saint-Lambert, but to have a great concert and showing that Montreal is one of the great metropolises in the world, what do we have against that?” he said.
The noise level matter is before the courts, as Saint-Lambert asked for an injunction to force Montreal and promoters to limit sound on Parc Jean-Drapeau to 60 decibels in residential areas during events.
