At the end of a day of pleadings, Judge Clément Samson, of the Superior Court, will soon decide whether or not to order the temporary halt to work on the tramway.
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Friday, at the Quebec City courthouse, Mr. Samson took his decision under advisement following hearing the arguments of the lawyers of the anti-tramway group “Quebec deserves better (QMM)” as well as those of the City of Quebec and the Attorney General of Quebec. . The decision should be made in the coming days or weeks, he said at the end of the followingnoon.
Me Guy Bertrand, lawyer for QMM, pleaded a request for a provisional injunction. If his request is accepted, the tram works might be stopped for a – renewable – period of 10 days. The lawyer particularly insisted on the importance of pausing the felling of trees and the process of expropriation.
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Me Guy Bertrand
Me Bertrand attacked the legality and the constitutionality of the tramway in Quebec. “We made fun of democracy and democratic values by refusing the referendum. It was done on the sly. It was twisted. There was no question of the ballot box. Democracy was messed up […] Fundamental rights have been violated”, he set the tone from the start.
Propaganda
Me Guy Bertrand spoke regarding the issue of expropriations, deploring that citizens are deprived of their right to go to court to challenge decisions of this kind.
The famous lawyer also qualified the recent information meetings regarding the tramway as “propaganda” meetings through which the Marchand administration would try to impose this project on the population.
He also regretted that the Government of Quebec and the City of Quebec did not take into account the conclusions of the BAPE report, which includes several criticisms of the tramway. “We can’t reject it [le rapport] because it is advisory,” argued Mr.e Bertrand.
The arguments of the defendants
For his part, M.e Serge Giasson, lawyer for the City of Quebec, said that a good part of the pre-work in progress – for the movement of the underground cables – would have taken place independently of the tramway. “We used the powers [municipaux] what we have”, he summarized, assuring that the Municipality did not have recourse to government decrees for this work.
The city also said it planned to cut down 52 trees by the end of October, 26 of which are already diseased. Year following year, and excluding the tramway, the City destroys around 3,000 trees, it was argued to minimize the scope of the pre-works.
In a sworn statement, Daniel Genest, director of the tramway project office, recalled that each year of delay in building the tramway would cost taxpayers an additional $100 million. A possible pause of the construction site would be particularly harmful for the overall schedule, swore the lawyers.
The parties are to meet once more on August 29 for a management conference which will determine the rest of the legal process.
They said
- “If trees might talk, they would say ‘God, don’t kill me,'” Me Guy Bertrand, attorney for QMM.
- “This regulation, 1349 [règlement d’urbanisme applicable au tramway], it’s not mean. It does not create more rights concerning the tram”, Me Serge Giasson, lawyer for the City of Quebec.
- “We are placed in an emergency situation today, but there is no urgency”, Me Gabrielle Ferland-Gagnon, lawyer for the Attorney General of Quebec.
- “The court does not decide whether a political decision is right. It comes from the political world”, the judge Clément Samson addressing Me Guy Bertrand.
- “I would be very surprised if we issued an injunction at this stage. […] We have a little difficulty finding the illegal elements. You can agree or not with the project [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.