Montreal chapter activist Abdul Pirani
The Concordian reports that, “Several weeks ago, Sharron Cimon gave little thought to the shale gas industry. …Last week she made the trip from (her home in) Saint-Herménégilde (in the Eastern Townships) to Concordia, where the Council of Canadians held a meeting on shale gas extraction in Quebec.”
Cimon lives in an area that has been identified as the latest site for natural gas exploration.
“Featured (at the chapter event) was speaker Kim Cornelissen, vice-president of the Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique. A former politician, Cornelissen took up issue with the gas industry when it landed in her village of Saint-Marc sur Richelieu on the south shore. Like most critics, Cornelissen is worried about the industry practice of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking.’ She says this technique for creating gas wells threatens polluting underground water pockets. High volumes of water and sand are blasted into the earth along with chemical additives, the identity of which Cornelissen says are closely guarded as trade secrets.”
As noted in the Montreal Gazette event listings, the Council of Canadians-Montreal chapter meeting took place on Wednesday October 6 at 7 p.m. at 1450 Guy St., Room 206. The Concordian article is at http://www.theconcordian.com/news/shale-gas-concerns-bring-citizens-to-concordia-1.1675614. More on fracking in Quebec can be read at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4622.
This evening the Montreal chapter will co-sponsor a screening of Water on the Table at 7 pm at Concordia University, Room H-110, 1455 de Maisonneuve West. Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be in attendance at the screening.
