Quebec is taking legal action to terminate the agreement that has bound it to Mont-Sainte-Anne since 1994, our investigative office has learned.
• Also read: Expropriating RCR would cost more than buying the mountain, says Kariane Bourassa
The Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ) filed a pre-registration notice in the Supreme Court on Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to terminate agreements and annul registrations involving the public company and Mont-Saint Anne station.
This agreement has been in force since August 1994.
Remember that Mont-Sainte-Anne has been in turmoil since a gondola crashed last December. The incident, which fortunately caused no injuries, forced the cessation of the station’s activities.
The mountain was able to partially reopen and welcome skiers again in early January following the intervention of the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec (RBQ).
Photo by Jean Francois Racine
Given the many issues raised regarding Mont-Sainte-Anne’s equipment in recent years, several voices have been raised calling for the expropriation of current operator Resort of the Canadian Rockies (RCR). The current lease binds RCR and Mont Sainte-Anne until 2093.
On Monday, Caquiste MP Kariane Bourassa said it would cost the government more to remove Mont-Sainte-Anne from RCR hands than to buy the mountain.
Last Friday, the minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, Jonatan Julien, decided that expropriating the RCR was out of the question. The company, he argued, was meeting minimum standards imposed by Daniel Johnson’s government in the 1990s.
“I have said it before and I will repeat it: we are not a banana republic,” he commented, underlining the importance of respecting the treaties signed by the state.
More details to come…
– With Daniel Langlois