MAJOR SETBACK FOR CANADA CARBON (CCB) - MILLER PROJECT SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY
Translated From LaPresse - November 14, 2018
Canada Carbon Mining faces a first setback in its attempt to establish a marble quarry and an open pit graphite mine in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, in the Laurentians.
In a decision rendered last Friday and published this week, the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec (TAQ) rejected the request of the mining company based in Vancouver, which asked it to force the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land in Quebec (CPTAQ) to resume the study of his file.
In December 2016, Canada Carbon submitted an application for authorization to the CPTAQ to use several lots of the Municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge located in an agricultural zone for purposes other than agriculture.
At the time, the municipality told the CPTAQ that the application complies with its zoning by-law.
But the project raises controversy and the new municipal council, elected in the fall of 2017, advises the CPTAQ that the mining project is not in compliance with municipal regulations.
Consequently, the CPTAQ considers the request of the mining company inadmissible and stops studying the file.
The TAQ concludes that its jurisdiction is limited to reviewing the decisions of the CPTAQ, but that the rejection of an application deemed inadmissible is not in itself a decision.
The TAQ thus agrees with the arguments of the CPTAQ, which considers that the closing of the file "should have been the subject of an appeal for judicial review in the Superior Court and not of an action brought before [him]".
Neither Canada Carbon nor the lawyer who represented it before the TAQ had recalled La Presse at the time of writing.
The Coalition to Make Quebec Look Better is pleased with this decision.
"It's a first win, but it's not over because Canada Carbon Mining is also challenging the municipal zoning bylaw," Ugo spokesman Ugo told La Presse.
"The municipality hears the appeal of the court, which invites him to fully demonstrate the unfairness of this lawsuit in a formal trial," reacted the Mayor of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge , Tom Arnold.
Canada Carbon blames Grenville-sur-la-Rouge for losing potential revenue by blocking its project. |
