Health chief Boileau takes heat from worried Quebecers over drastically increased nickel emissions

The Queen Mary 2 cruise ship is docked at the Port of Quebec, in front of old historic Quebec City, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006. The Quebec Port Authority says more than one hundred companies have given their support to the development of an expanded container terminal in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec's current public health chief came under fire on Thursday for a controversial decision made by his predecessor allowing nickel emissions near a Quebec City neighbourhood to grow fivefold overnight.

Dr. Luc Boileau, who is serving as interim public health director after Dr. Horacio Arruda stepped down this winter, said the decision was made after "rigourous" research -- but that it could still be changed.

The decision "was done with medical advisors and scientific advisors," he said. "But at the same time, the other part of the question is that, obviously, there are some people that are really concerned about that, and we have to take care of it."

People's questions "need to be addressed," he added, speaking during a routine COVID-19 update on Thursday.

Quebec has significantly lowered its restrictions on nickel emissions, which are carcinogenic at high levels, and the new rules came into effect Thursday.

'PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ... TALK TO THEM'

Meanwhile, the Port of Quebec is asking the government to postpone the change, with the CEO of the port, Mario Girard, asking the province's environment minister to reconsider.

He wrote that residents of the neighbourhood of Limoilou, which is next to the port, are very worried about the idea of so much extra nickel in the air.

"Minister, I invite you to refocus on priorities," wrote Girard in the letter.

The change applies to all of Quebec, but it's especially pertinent in Quebec City and especially Limoilou, where big volumes of nickel mined in northern Quebec come through the port nearby.

"People are worried in Limoilou. I invite you to listen to them and talk to them. It goes beyond politics," he wrote.

"Faced with these legitimate concerns, wouldn't it be desirable to take a few extra weeks to reassure these citizens? Where is the urgency?"

The industry generates hundreds of millions in the provincial economy, as the government has previously noted in its past studies on the subject. It has also long studied the health risks of breathing nickel emissions, which are known to cause cancer at high levels.

The province settled on the change in the emission levels last December, but the file was in the works with the public health office for years, Boileau said Thursday.

"In fact, my colleague, Dr. Arruda, said in the middle of 2018, so more than two years ago, that it was okay to adjust those normative standards for nickel in the population throughout Quebec," he said.

While he said the province should be open to listening to residents' concerns, that doesn't mean it made the wrong decision, he said.

"It's not to say that 'okay, we made mistakes' -- no, it was done clearly and solidly," Boileau said.

"So if the stakeholders wish it to be reset, I would be [open to that], but I don't think that the job was done not in a rigorous way."

However, he added, "I haven't read on it completely myself, of course."