Park Ex residents call for borough to do more to curb trash overflow
It's a stinky situation in Montreal's Park Extension neighbourhood, where residents say the garbage problem has gotten out of control.
Roberto Reginato has lived in Park Ex for over 50 years. He said large piles of garbage on the curb are a common sight.
"We've got recycling here, we've got paint products that look like they were used 20 years ago, we got clothes," said Reginato, gesturing to a heap of trash while taking CTV News on a tour of the neighbourhood. "I don't even want to get close to it."
Reginato believes the borough isn't moving fast enough to clear the trash piles.
"This what I wake up to in the morning, this is what I see every day," he lamented.
LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Parc-Ex stinks… literally
It's gotten worse since the borough changed garbage pickup to just one a week for buildings with under eight units in 2018, he explained.
These days, garbage piles are common on-and-off public property, say residents, which has led to another issue.
"There's rats. I don't know how many there are, but there are rats," said Reginato.
Resident Connie Buccheri said the garbage attracts all kinds of pests.
"There's rodents, there's skunks, there's racoons, but especially the rats and the mice all over the place," she said. "Garbage brings in rodents. So you get rid of the garbage, you get rid of the rodents."
"I feel Park Ex is being neglected," said Buccheri. "And that is unacceptable."
They want the borough to do more to clean up the streets by better-informing residents on waste management and more frequent garbage pickup.
LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Picking up the trash in Park Extension
But the borough says now is the time to cut down on waste altogether.
"It's not true that if there is a problem here, we're just going to [add] more collection [days] and forget that we are in a climate crisis, and that we have to divert from the landfill," said Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde.
On Monday, the borough launched a neighbourhood cleanup "blitz" to get existing garbage pileup under control.
Information teams are also being dispatched to knock on doors and educate people on proper waste management, including how to seperate garbage from recycling and compost.
Signs reminding people to keep the area clean have gone up around the neighbourhood, and fines have been boosted to $4,000.
"I really do think that people here in Park Extension, they can understand how it works like every other borough," said Lavigne Lalonde.
"They are people that live here, participate in community activities; they are as brilliant as in other places, so we just have to make sure that information gets to people."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.