The Superior Court ruled in favor of the City of Mirabel in the dispute between it and Transcontinental Media concerning its decision to prohibit the automatic distribution of the Publisac. The company has already announced that it intends to appeal the decision.
In a decision handed down on Wednesday, Judge Jean-Yves Lalonde validated the by-law adopted in 2019 by the City of Mirabel which established a system of voluntary membership (“opt-in”) for the distribution of flyers. He believes that the City of Mirabel was empowered to regulate the distribution of printed advertising on its territory under the Municipal Powers Act. “The municipal council chose to adopt by-law 2326 in the public interest based on numerous complaints related to the distribution of printed advertising on its territory,” he underlines in his 50-page judgment. In this regard, it has neither an abusive nor oppressive effect, the judge considers.
According to the judge, although the City consulted Canada Post before adopting its by-law, nothing obliged it to do so with Transcontinental or any other distributor or advertiser “other than a general obligation of transparency”. “The Court is of the opinion that MTC has not suffered any real prejudice, at least has not demonstrated any”, notes the judge.
“By-law 2326 is a public-interest by-law justified by the desire to reduce the management of residual materials and promote the cleanliness of the territory. These are major environmental issues,” said Justice Lalonde.
Transcontinental has indicated that it intends to appeal. “We are disappointed with the Court’s decision, and we will challenge it on appeal,” said Patrick Brayley, senior vice-president at TC Transcontinental, in a press release. “In the current inflationary context, and at a time when the population is facing unprecedented price increases, the social and economic relevance of the Publisac is greater than ever. »
The company argued that the Publisac, in addition to giving consumers access to discounts, allowed the distribution of local newspapers at an advantageous cost. Distributing these flyers generates thousands of direct and indirect jobs, the company added.
This judgment was expected because Mirabel was in 2019 the first Quebec municipality to ban the automatic distribution of flyers. The decision of Judge Lalonde was also welcomed by the City of Mirabel. “We believed in our regulations right to the end and the judgment rendered demonstrates that we were right to go in this direction. This is a major turning point for Mirabel as for the other cities that will follow suit in reducing paper consumption,” commented the mayor of Mirabel, Patrick Charbonneau.
Last week, the City of Montreal announced that it also intended to implement an explicit consent form for the distribution of the Publisac as of May 2023. ‘accelerate the ecological transition for which reduction at source plays a central role,’ commented the office of Mayor Valérie Plante on Wednesday.