An environmental research team from McGill University made front-page news in the Journal de Montréal this past weekend about their discovery of massive environmental devastation stretching from the South Shore of Montreal to the U.S. border.

The McGill team, styled “Leadership for the Ecozoic,” had been studying the watershed of the Châteauguay River with colleagues from Vermont. Their landmark research revealed that the entire region had become a dumping ground for tens of thousands of truckloads of construction, demolition and other waste. The long-term damage to the environment, in particular to the underground water, is incalculable.

This incredible work was not just important for the ecosystems, it is, to me, symbolic of a positive evolution I’ve been seeing in the institutions of the English-speaking community.

Ever since the Legault government decided to undermine McGill and Concordia, I’ve noticed an enhanced presence of both........

© Montreal Gazette