Incidentally, Quebec’s smallest frog just won its second victory in three years in Canada’s Supreme Court.
Posted at 3:30pm, updated at 4:52pm.
The country’s highest court on Thursday denied another request from a real estate developer who had challenged the emergency ordinance Ottawa issued in 2016 to protect the choir frog, an endangered species. Environmental groups welcome the decision, which confirms that the federal government’s decision was not a covert expropriation.
The Supreme Court decision ends another legal saga involving the Western Chorus Frog, a tiny frog less than 3 cm in size that is critically endangered. Recall that in 2016 Ottawa issued an emergency regulation to protect species in La Prairie threatened by a major human settlement project.
A project sponsor, Groupe Maison Candiac, initially challenged the validity of the federal decree up to the Supreme Court. In December 2020, the Supreme Court denied the Company’s motion to appeal a decision by the Quebec Court of Appeals dismissing all of the promoter’s arguments.
For their part, promoters of the Symbiocité subdivision project in La Prairie have chosen a different route to challenge the federal order. From the beginning, the companies 9255-2504 Québec inc., 142 550 Canada inc. and Grand Boisé de La Prairie Inc. decided not to contest the validity of the decree, but rather argued that Ottawa was obligated to pay them compensation since the decree’s enactment prevented them from completing the final stages of their real estate project.
Their arguments were initially dismissed by the federal court in a January 2020 decision. In March 2022, the Federal Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision. As usual, the Supreme Court on Thursday did not explain its refusal to hear the proponents’ appeal in the case.
The decision pleased the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP) and the Quebec Center for Environmental Law (CQDE). According to these two organizations, it confirms that “the protection of habitats [des espèces en péril] cannot be equated with a covert expropriation.”
“This is good news for endangered species,” says Alain Branchaud, executive director of CPAWS Quebec. This judgment strengthens the federal government’s legitimacy to act. “Good news but hiding a shadow on the board, believes Mr Branchaud.
According to him, the decisions of the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Court of Appeal illustrate significant shortcomings in the implementation of Section 64 of the Species Protection Act. This article states that after an emergency decree has been passed, the competent minister may pay compensation, but the government must have an ordinance governing the payment of compensation. However, such a regulation does not currently exist.
In his January 2020 decision, Federal Court Judge René LeBlanc wrote that “the defendant would be further wrong if he were to interpret this judgment as if the matter had been heard, to mean that it was resolved and no more negotiation needs more.” Action; Unless it wants to expose itself to other means, sooner or later it will have to find a way to achieve what Parliament wanted for the protection of endangered species in Canada.”
According to Alain Branchaud, this passage constitutes a clear request for Ottawa to adopt such a regulation, which, in his opinion, would not oblige the country to pay compensation, but which would allow it to fulfill the obligations provided for in the law risk.
La Presse tried unsuccessfully to contact the companies affected by the Supreme Court decision.