At the end of a day of pleading, Supreme Court Justice Clément Samson will soon decide whether or not to order the temporary suspension of work on the tram.
• Also read: The anti-tram appeal will be difficult to justify, according to two lawyers
• Also read: Failed negotiations between lawyers for the tram project
On Friday, Mr. Samson made his decision under deliberation at the Quebec City courthouse after hearing arguments from lawyers for the anti-tram group Quebec Deserves Better (QMM), as well as those from the City of Quebec and the Attorney General of Quebec. . The decision should be made in the coming days or weeks, he said late in the afternoon.
Me Guy Bertrand, attorney for QMM, applied for an injunction. If his request is granted, tram work could be halted for a – renewable – period of 10 days. In particular, the lawyer stressed the importance of halting the felling of trees and the process of expropriation.
Archive photo
I Guy Bertrand
Mr. Bertrand attacked the legality and constitutionality of the Quebec streetcar system. “We made fun of democracy and democratic values by rejecting the referendum. It was done in secret. It was twisted. There was no mention of the ballot box. Democracy was broken […] Fundamental rights were violated,” he set the tone from the start.
propaganda
Me Guy Bertrand spoke on the issue of expropriations and regretted that citizens are being deprived of the right to take decisions of this kind to court.
The famous lawyer also described the recent information events about the tram as “propaganda” events, with which the Marchand government would try to impose this project on the population.
He also regretted that the Quebec government and the City of Quebec did not consider the conclusions of the BAPE report, which contains several criticisms of the streetcar. “We can’t refuse that [le rapport] because it’s advisory,” Bertrand said.
The arguments of the defendants
For his part, Me Serge Giasson, a lawyer for the city of Quebec, said that much of the preliminary work in progress – for laying the underground cables – took place independently of the tram. “We used the power [municipaux] what we have,” he summarized, assuring that the community did not resort to government regulations for this work.
The city also said it plans to cut 52 trees by the end of October, 26 of which are already diseased. Year after year and without the tram, the city destroys around 3,000 trees, it has been argued, in order to minimize the scope of the preliminary work.
In an affidavit, Daniel Genest, director of the streetcar project office, recalled that every year delay in the streetcar’s construction costs taxpayers an additional $100 million. A possible pause in the construction site would be particularly detrimental to the overall schedule, the lawyers vowed.
On August 29, the parties are to meet again for a management conference that is to determine further legal action.
said
- “If the trees could talk, they would say, ‘My God, don’t kill me'”, Me Guy Bertrand, QMM’s attorney.
- “This ordinance, 1349 [règlement d’urbanisme applicable au tramway], it’s not mean. It does not create any further rights in relation to the tram,” Me Serge Giasson, Quebec City Attorney.
- “We are in an emergency situation today, but there is no urgency,” Me Gabrielle Ferland-Gagnon, attorney for the Quebec Attorney General’s Office.
- “The court does not decide whether a political decision is correct. It comes from the world of politics,” Judge Clément Samson addresses me, Guy Bertrand.
- “I would be very surprised if we issued a restraining order at this point. […] We’re having a little trouble finding the illegal items. You can agree to the project or not [de tramway]but it remains a project of a political and discretionary nature, whether we like it or not”, Me François Marchand, lawyer specializing in municipal affairs.