Hirondelles Woodland | Senator Paul Massicotte victim of disguised expropriation, concludes the Superior Court

After a long legal saga, Senator Paul Massicotte has finally won a victory in the dispute between him and the City of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, on the South Shore. The Superior Court concluded that he had been the victim of a disguised expropriation of his land located in the Boisé des Hirondelles and that he was entitled to compensation.

A request for 15 million for disguised expropriation

In 2018, two companies owned by Paul Massicotte filed an appeal with the Superior Court to have the regulations preventing him from carrying out a residential subdivision project in the Boisé des Hirondelles annulled. The promoter is also claiming compensation for disguised expropriation of $15 million in the event that the settlements are deemed valid. In a decision rendered on March 7, Judge Lukasz Ganosik did not rule on the validity of the regulations. He nevertheless concluded that several Saint-Bruno municipal by-laws aimed at protecting the Hirondelles woods “have the effect of expropriating the plaintiffs, Sommet Prestige Canada inc. and Sommet Prestige Properties inc. “. The amount of compensation must be determined during another hearing. Joined by The Press, the parties involved declined to comment on the judgment. Saint-Bruno has 30 days to file an application for leave to appeal.

Decisions that complicate the task of municipalities

This judgment is in addition to other recent court decisions that risk complicating the work of municipalities wishing to protect the natural environments on their territory. Last September, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal filed by the City of Mascouche. The municipality was contesting a decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal, which ordered it to pay financial compensation to a citizen, Ginette Dupras, for disguised expropriation. The latter was opposed to a change in the zoning by-law henceforth preventing any subdivision on its land. A recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada also vindicated developers who complained of disguised expropriation in Nova Scotia.

An endangered species

Remember that Paul Massicotte’s two companies were planning a subdivision project of some twenty houses in the Boisé des Hirondelles, a project that initially received support from the City of Saint-Bruno. The election of a new municipal council in November 2013, however, changed the situation since the newly elected had pledged to protect the wooded area during the election campaign. In 2011 and 2012, two reports sent to the Ministry of the Environment confirmed the presence on the site of several American ginseng plants, an endangered species. Over the next few years, Saint-Bruno passed municipal bylaws to protect the place. Note that in the fall of 2013, the Quebec lobbying commissioner concluded that illegal lobbying activities had been carried out as part of Paul Massicotte’s project in Saint-Bruno. Commissioner François Casgrain then blamed former mayor Claude Benjamin and municipal officials.

A long standoff

In 2019, the Superior Court found that a million-dollar lawsuit brought by the developer against former Saint-Bruno mayor Martin Murray and former city councilor Marilou Alarie constituted a SLAPP suit. The promoter accused them “of having acted knowingly and abusively in order to stumble” his subdivision project. In his decision, Judge Claude Dallaire also condemned the companies of Paul Massicotte to reimburse the defense costs of Mr. Murray and Mr.^me Alarie. In June 2022, Senator Massicotte, who is also Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, also filed a motion in Superior Court to strike down a new Interim Community Control Regulation. Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) intended to protect the “natural environments of interest” on its territory. This includes a large part of the Hirondelles wooded area.