“Uncontrolled dumping”: the Ministry of Transport does not respect its own blacklist

All it took was a name change for Marc-Olivier Boucher, the owner of Déneigement Demco, to continue doing business with the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD).

With Déneigement Demco on the blacklist, Marc-Olivier Boucher simply bid on behalf of his other company, Gestion M. Boucher, and continued to have access to the ministry’s sweeping contracts.

Marc-Olivier Boucher refused to grant us an interview.

Operations captured on hidden cameras by the show Investigation showed that the main subcontractors of the Ministry of Transport carry out wild dumps of sweeping residue. This material, which resembles sand, also contains waste, that collected on the side of the road, and potentially high levels of hydrocarbons and heavy metals.

In addition to having dumped street sweepings into the Batiscan River, Déneigement Demco was surprised by the department driving backwards on Highway 40 in Mauricie, putting endangering the safety of road users.

We obtained communication between Déneigement Demco and an engineer from the MTMD in Mauricie, exasperated by the conduct of the company, which had already been reprimanded the previous year.

This type of behavior is in no way accepted and the department cannot afford to let contractors who are unaware of the dangers work. The engineer sends a clear message to his superiors: We are of the opinion that this service provider should be excluded from future calls for tenders.

At the same time, but in Estrie, Déneigement Demco exasperated other MTMD supervisors. In addition to having created a street sweeping dump in the road right-of-way and on the edges of municipal roads, Déneigement Demco sources water from a fire hydrant, without authorization.

During sweeping operations, a tanker truck is required. Illegal supply caused a problem to the Municipality of Dixville’s water system […]which had to issue a 48-hour boil water advisory.

A ministerial note confirms, in 2018, that Déneigement Demco obtains unsatisfactory performance, which places it on the list of companies having obtained an unsatisfactory performance report.

This is the name that the ministry gives to its blacklist.

The consequence of being placed on this list is that for two years, the ministry reserves the right not to award a contract to this service provider.explains the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Louis-André Bertrand.

Demco Snow Removal is on this list from 2018 to October 2020.

Despite everything, he continues to win contracts thanks to his other company, Gestion M. Boucher, which also accumulates notices of non-compliance in 2019 and 2020.

You have been seen dominating illegally the contents of your broomswrites the ministry to Gestion M. Boucher.

Dangerous maneuvers, dumping of sweeping residue, and the theft of water from municipal fire hydrants continue.

The entrepreneur is the same as in 2017argues the MTMD de la Mauricie engineer. Different NEQ (Quebec business numbers), same owner. The entrepreneur has not learned.

We asked the MTMD why it allows an individual to continue their non-compliant activities, despite being on its blacklist.

The ministry follows the contractual rules which are dictated by the Treasury Board secretariat and which are monitored by the Public Procurement Authority, replies Louis-André Bertrand. We respect contractual rules because contracts are awarded to legal entities.

The Public Procurement Authority (AMP) refused to comment on the matter since it has no jurisdiction over matters related to the performance and quality of services rendered. Its mission is to look into corporate integrity.

Banned in one region, it continues elsewhere

June 2019. The Ironman Mont-Tremblant is fast approaching. Pavement cleaning is crucial to ensuring the safety of cyclists.

A few days before the race, the ministry notes that the roads in Mont-Tremblant are still dirty. The subcontractor Entretiens JR Villeneuve has still not carried out the cleaning.

During the week of June 17, 2019, the MTMD has no choice but to do it itself.

In several administrative notes sent to Entretiens JR Villeneuve, a senior MTMD executive blames the company for this negligence and several others that occurred in 2019.

In addition to not meeting planned deadlines, the company, according to the ministry, compromises the safety of road users and obtains its supplies from fire hydrants in several municipalities, without authorization.

An unsatisfactory performance evaluation is produced. Entretiens JR Villeneuve finds himself on the MTMD blacklist until fall 2021.

Jean Villeneuve contested this assessment, but out of time. His challenge was not upheld by the MTMD.

It was not justifiedreplies Mr. Villeneuve in an interview. The contractor explains the affair by a lack of communication between him and the MTMD foreman which allegedly encouraged the latter to want to catch him in default at all costs. Efforts were made accordingly; it was relentlessness.

This did not prevent Mr. Villeneuve, as he himself explains, from continuing his contracts with the MTMD elsewhere in Quebec. Saying harassed by the Laurentides foreman, he decided never to bid again for this departmental service center.

In 2022, 2023 and 2024, the offenses still continued in other regions, according to documents we obtained. The company is accused of the same facts as in 2019, but by other regional management.

Added to this are illegal dumping of street sweeping residue.

The Ministry of Transport also caught Entretiens JR Villeneuve in the act last April. “You have been seen dominating sweeping residue in the ministry’s highway right-of-way,” reads a report of the incident.

The offense was committed on Île aux Tourtes, very close to this sign.

It was a break in one of my trucks, defends Jean Villeneuve. The person lifted the container, the skip, to make the repair. It was material that was stuck in the bottom of the dumpster. It fell about a wheelbarrow’s worth.

The incident was captured by the ministry’s surveillance cameras. We see not one, but two truck bodies lifted simultaneously. And not one, but two piles of dumped earth.

Jean Villeneuve wrote to us that his employees lacked experience and that the weather conditions were difficult. He confirms that he has restored the premises, as evidenced by one of the photos he provided us.

The illegal street sweeping provisions are well documented by the Ministry of Transport, which repeats that environmental regulations are the responsibility of Benoit Charette’s ministry.

The Ministry of the Environment did not want to grant us an interview.

With the collaboration of Michael Deetjens and Bernard Leduc