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Supreme Court of Canada rules in favour of Hydro-Québec over plan for new transmission line

Hydro-Québec has the right to construct a new electric-power transmission line along an existing corridor running from the Quebec City area to Laval.
Hydro-Québec has the right to construct a new electric-power transmission line along an existing corridor running from the Quebec City area to Laval. Mark Lennihan/AP/The Canadian Press

The Supreme Court of Canada says Hydro-Québec has the right to construct a new electric-power transmission line along an existing corridor running from the Quebec City area to Laval.

The story began in the early 1970s when the Quebec government authorized Hydro-Québec to build a transmission line and the utility acquired the necessary rights through expropriation.

In 2015, the Quebec government approved Hydro-Québec’s plan for a new line.

READ MORE: Hydro-Québec announces rate increase of 1.3 per cent starting next April

However, land owners argued the construction should not be allowed along the Quebec City-Laval corridor and claimed damages for unintended use of the original rights.

In May 2017, a judge allowed Hydro-Québec’s application for a permanent injunction and ordered the owners to let the work proceed.

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In May 2018, the Quebec Court of Appeal set aside the ruling and declared that Hydro-Québec had no right to use the owners’ properties to set up the new line, a decision the Supreme Court’s decision largely overturns.

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