DORVAL — It was a battle to the bitter end, but the group fighting to save the Dorval Municipal Golf Course has announced it is throwing in the towel.
“We have truly lost the battle with the ADM. It is so very sad that this tiny little green space will be wiped off the map, and all for another useless building at the airport,” wrote Christine McDowell on the group’s Facebook page.
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Representatives from the group attended the April 8 meeting at the Montreal courthouse, where Judge Wilbrod Claude Décarie ruled in favour of the Transport Ministry and Aéroports de Montréal (ADM).
“In its simplest form, he essentially said that the federal government has complete jurisdiction over all airport facilities and that this power was delegated to the leasers of the federal land, the ADM,” said Dave Maloney, an advocate trying to save the course.
The golf course is federally owned land that is leased to the ADM.
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The airport, in turn, rents the property to the Dorval Municipal Golf Course.
ADM argued it needs to take back the green space to expand its operations and build a security check point.
WATCH: Fight for the Dorval Municipal Golf Course
The group’s lawyer pointed out how destroying residential green space and hundreds of century-old trees was not the way to go.
READ MORE: Tree cutting at Dorval Golf Course violates agreement in principle
“There is something wrong with our system when any group has absolute power and infinite financial resources that can be used against any group that dares to question their decisions,” said Maloney.
“What is that old adage? ‘Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.'”