This week, I called into question the credibility of Montreal public health official Monique Beausoleil.
Ms. Beausoleil is Pointe-Claire’s go to experts on the health impacts of the PCB spill. On March 15 2016, she released a statement: http://bit.ly/2nT5Ioa on behalf of the government that said that there was no « serious » health risks for local workers.
Shortly thereafter, Pointe-Claire director general sent her this email http://bit.ly/2oRmvZy in which he applied pressure on the health authority to change their statement with respect to the level of risk that the site posed to public health. Two weeks later, on April 1 2016, just days before our April 5th protest was to take place at city hall, Ms. Beausoleil released another statement http://bit.ly/2oh2DkV this time she indicated that there was « no risk » to public health.
Ms. Beausoleil is also involved with the issue of lead pipes in the city of Montreal. She has stated http://bit.ly/2o6ixML that even though the official government recommendation is that pregnant women and children under 6 should filter their water before drinking it, that it is not important to do so. These statements drew strong criticism from drinking water specialist Michèle Prévost from Ecole Polytechnique.
It is deeply concerning that in both of these cases Ms. Beausoleil (who is not a doctor) is making statements that are effectively holding back hundreds of millions of dollars that should be spent on protecting public health.
Meanwhile children at Montreal’s FACE elementary school have been exposed to lead in their drinking water: http://bit.ly/2nT7aqH
