In keeping with its mission to advance, promote and preserve the Canadian Freedom to Fly, COPA has announced that it is providing financial support for the proponent’s legal defense against the City of Mascouche and the Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and Climate Change, who are recklessly using taxpayer dollars to oppose the relocation of the Mascouche airport.

The support for this fight come from COPA’s Freedom to Fly Fund, a fund specifically dedicated to the defense of aeronautical activities with an autonomous capital of more than one million dollars. The Supreme Court of Canada, through two historic 2010 decisions known as “the COPA decisions,” clearly and unequivocally confirmed the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government over aeronautical activities.

“It is because of this determination and the potential national scope of future decisions that it is important for COPA to support the developer of the Les Moulins aerodrome at Mascouche with its Freedom to Fly Fund and thus try to stop this nascent cycle of unfounded harassment,” said Bernard Gervais, President of COPA. “It is a matter of preserving the right to fly in Canada and maintaining a general aviation network that can support the country, if only to ensure the succession of pilots for the future.”

Despite a 2016 commitment to provide up to $3 million to support the relocation of the airport, the City of Mascouche has joined forces with Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change to continue to challenge the federal government’s purview to govern aeronautics – wasting taxpayers’ dollars and tying up the legal system in the process. The consultations conducted by the airport proponents conformed to all applicable federal legislation and resulted in an official decision from the federal Minister of Transport not objecting to the continuation of this development work.

COPA represents over 17,000 pilots and aircraft owners across the country and is the national voice for General Aviation in Canada. Through the mission of advancing, promoting, and preserving the Canadian Freedom to Fly, COPA is at the forefront on issues that affect pilots, aircraft and airports in communities across Canada and is an active partner with all levels of government in ensuring a bright future for general aviation. For more information, visit oldcopa.org