Montreal, Quebec—October 31, 2019–Warehouses A.B., a Quebec-based auto repair wholesaler operating out of the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, will pay more than half-a-million dollars in environmental fines. Last week, the company plead to three charges of breaking Canada’s environmental codes for its handling of volatile organic compounds.
The violations were first brought to the attention of the Department of Environment and Climate Change when its inspectors auto refinishing chemical products VOC concentrations higher than are allowed in Canada. The ministry also says the company did not act on enforcement orders.
On top of the fine, the auto repair supplier must pay the costs of the destruction of the chemical products, which are considered illegal imports in Canada.
The company has also had its name registered on the environmental offenders’ registry.
It is believed that the illegally imported, high VOC products were sold to collision repair facilities. Those facilities that purchased the products could also be in legal trouble. Repairers wishing to review Canada’s laws on VOC concentration limits will struggle to find the information online. While the government does make the information available online, the site was offline at the time this story went to press.
Ironically, the name Terrebonne roughly translates into English as Good Earth.
