The Quebec Superior Court sided with the proponents seeking to relocate the Mascouche airport in Terrebonne, Quebec, in a judgment released last Friday, February 18. The ruling is the latest in a year-long battle to move the now-closed Mascouche Airport, outside Montreal, to a new parcel of land acquired for that purpose. In December of 2016, the City of Mascouche sought an injunction to block the move, citing Section 22 of Quebec’s Environmental Quality Act – arguing the proponents were not compliant with certain provincial environmental standards.

In his 37-page ruling, Justice Martin Castonguay upheld the federal government’s right relating to the regulation of aeronautics and said that Section 22 of Quebec’s Environmental Quality Act is unconstitutional. Justice Castonguay referred extensively to the landmark 2010 COPA decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, which along with the 2010 Lacombe decision, set a new standard for Canadian constitutional jurisprudence relating to interjurisdictional immunity and paramountcy.

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