It has been five years since Havelock residents first protested the implantation of an asphalt factory at the Carrières Ducharme quarry on Covey Hill.
Over 100 people gathered outside the town hall on July 5, 2021, as municipal council meetings were taking place without public participation due to pandemic restrictions. They returned the following month. These demonstrations marked the start of a battle between the municipality and Groupe Chenail Inc. that eventually played out across all levels of justice within the province.
The Quebec Superior Court, the provincial Court of Appeal, and the Commission de Protection des Terres Agricoles du Quebec (CPTAQ) all originally issued rulings in favour of the factory. After a concerted effort by members of an ad-hoc committee formed by the municipality, which submitted 548 pages of supporting documentation to the commission, the CPTAQ reversed its preliminary orientation to rule in favour of the municipality.
Against the odds, the municipality and its citizens appear to have won their fight following a landmark ruling by the Tribunal Administratif du Quebec (TAQ), which upheld the commission’s final decision in a May 19 judgement.
According to Sharon deGaspé Power, who serves as the spokesperson for the ad-hoc committee, Havelock’s director general, Francine Crête, stated following the regular council meeting on July 6 that the case is “99.9999 per cent closed.”
“Groupe Chenail has not pursued any further legal avenues within the 30-day limit that the TAQ provided them with in their ruling,” said DeGaspé Power. The municipality is now taking steps to request that Groupe Chenail remove any remaining equipment from the quarry, she confirmed.
The TAQ ruling focused on the CPTAQ’s decision to refuse the asphalt factory based on the potential impacts to the homogeneity of the farming community and possible consequences to existing and future agricultural activities. The CPTAQ referred to the testimonials of over 25 concerned individuals, groups and organizations, including the municipality, the MRC du Haut-Saint-Laurent, the Fédération de l’Union des Producteurs Agricoles de la Montérégie, and Ambioterra in its decision.
The commission also referred to a legal precedent established in a similar case in Rimouski, where the CPTAQ and the TAQ upheld rulings that blocked the building of an asphalt factory by Sintra Inc. on agricultural land. The commission relied on the Sintra decision to argue that an asphalt factory is not an ancillary use necessary for the operation of the quarry, but rather a new use that would affect the homogeneity of the agricultural community.
DeGaspé Power stated that she met with Rimouski mayor Guy Caron during a recent visit to the Gaspésie area to thank him personally for their seven-year fight with Sintra. “The CPTAQ cited the Rimouski case in their decision for Havelock, and it set the first precedent,” she explained.
“Rimouski, like Havelock, is a beautiful town. Its character will be preserved, and now so will ours,” she concluded.