There are only 2836 of us who endure the noise of planes over our heads… Oh really?

There are people who live on another planet, or who want to make us believe that we are hallucinating, or that we have a very fertile imagination.

Aéroports de Montreal (ADM), the company that manages the Montreal-Trudeau airport, at first says there has never been a curfew at Dorval and that nothing has changed since the nineties, thereby claiming that aircraft altitude levels above our heads are exactly the same now as they were then. And when the media reports protests from elected officials or citizens’ groups, ADM tries to calm things down by saying there were repairs on some runways at Dorval. A speech they repeat year after year to put people and the press to sleep .

ADM even has the nerve to publish in black and white in its annual report that the soundscape environment created by aircraft taking off or landing at Montreal-Trudeau has greatly improved since 1995. In fact, it has improved by around 93%! Every year, this organization assesses the number of people living below the noise footprint of the airport. In its 2011 report, it stated that there were only 16,144 people affected by noise. In 2012, that number had decreased to 3626 and by 2013, it outdid itself by giving us an even more amazing statistic: there were no more than 2836 of us living under the noise footprint of the airport …
We should believe this nonsense?

ADM relies on measuring stations installed all around the airport which record ambient noise (i.e. all noise without distinction). An average is then calculated which ADM relies on to advance the proposition that noise is decreasing and that, by extrapolation, there is no noise problem for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Villeray -Saint-Michel-Parc Extension, Mont Royal and even sectors of Saint Laurent. This is why ADM considers that it is not necessary to install noise measuring stations east of Highway 15, or in certain sectors east of St. Laurent.

ADM’s method of determining the number of people affected by noise also benefits from the fall in the number of flights recorded at Montreal-Trudeau in recent years. Yes, there are fewer departures and arrivals every year because planes that land or take off have a greater capacity and are well filled. This is what explains the major growth in passenger traffic in the last ten years. This factor – fewer aircraft movements – contributes to the decline in ambient noise. And ADM can claim to make progress at its monitoring stations at Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Côte Saint-Luc, Dorval, Pointe-Claire, and the stations north and south of St. Laurent.

And we, poor citizens, who are sometimes located six, eight, ten or even thirteen kilometres in a direct line from the airport, must accept that, despite what our ears tell us, and despite the inconveniences we suffer day and night. In addition, of course, to having to shout when having a conversation in our yard while standing a few feet from the person we are speaking to.

Ridicule does not kill

So when ADM’s 2014 annual report is released (May 1, 2015), we will no doubt be overjoyed to see that we are no more than about 2,200 to endure this scourge. And if the trend continues, could ADM even proclaim the planes do not affect anyone at all within 5 years …

Yes, ridicule does not kill, here’s another proof

No, but really, get out of your ivory tower, stop denying the obvious. Your numbers have no connection with reality. There are at least 50,000 to 100,000 people affected by excessive noise produced by the movement of aircraft on the island of Montreal.

But who monitors ADM? To whom does it report? Certainly not the citizens. So who? Who validates its wacky statistics?