City of Lévis mayor Gilles Lehouillier is the latest civic politician to believe his municipality has jurisdiction over federally-regulated aerodromes. Mayor Lehouillier wants to ban skydiving activities at Pintendre aerodrome (PT9), a rural 2100-foot grass strip southwest of Lévis, Quebec.

Citing the high number of take-offs and landings and the noise generated by them, Mayor Lehouillier claims such activities are harmful to the population. The city’s method to displace the skydivers was to deny them a building permit to construct a hangar. However, the city lost in Quebec’s Superior Court as they did when they escalated it to the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Not one to easily surrender, Mayor Lehouillier now wants the case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. “Our decision is to appeal to the Supreme Court. But we will wait for the appointment of the new Attorney General of Quebec when (Quebec’s new) cabinet is formed. In the Court of Appeal, it was the Attorney General who took the leadership of the cause because he considers that it is a departure from the laws of Quebec,” said Mayor Lehouillier this week.

COPA will be following this story as it develops.