Pilot who shorted Quebec’s grid jailed 7 years
Acted out grudge against utility in 2014
OTTAWA • In December 2014, Hydro-Quebec, Canada’s largest electric power utility, was hit with a crippling blackout at the start of winter. Traffic lights went dark, and more than 188,000 customers lost power, including Montreal’s McGill University Health Centre.
The utility was forced to scramble to avoid a systemwide outage. Power exports to the Northeast United States were cut. Industrial users were asked to slash production, and the provincially owned utility was required to buy emergency power from neighbouring utilities. Cost to the utility was estimated at $28.6 million.
But it was neither weather-related nor an act of God.
Normand Dubé, a local entrepreneur, had used his small plane in what the Crown described as an unprecedented strike on institutions and ordinary Quebecers.
Dubé, 56, described as a “pilot to the stars” for his past life transporting Quebec entertainers, had a grudge against the utility and the blackout was an act of revenge.
On Monday, Dubé was jailed for seven years after being found guilty of three charges of criminal mischief.
“The modus operandi of his crime shows that he carefully prepared it and did not act impulsively,” said Quebec court Judge Paul Chevalier. “The motive held by the court — vengeance — underlines his moral culpability.”
But Dubé’s legal woes are far from being behind him. He faces another criminal trial in February where he faces 20 counts, including six related to arson and 10 alleging he criminally harassed people.
Prosecutor Steve Baribeau sought to portray Dubé as a quick-tempered and vengeful man who recorded his own phone calls while he harassed government officials, border guards and municipal employees he didn’t agree with.
It is alleged that on July 10, 2014 — five months before he short-circuited two major Hydro lines — men allegedly hired by Dubé set fire to the home of Christian Leclerc, who at the time was the head of urban planning for Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, north of Montreal, where Dubé resides and owns an aviation company.
Two Molotov cocktails were tossed inside Leclerc’s house while his wife and two children were inside. One of the incendiary devices did not work, while the other started a small fire in the basement. Leclerc’s wife and his son managed to extinguish it before the flames could spread.
Five men have pleaded guilty in the case already.
In the Hydro-Quebec case, the Crown had sought the maximum 10-year sentence for the attack on two power lines northwest of Montreal, described by prosecutors as the jugular and spinal column of the utility network.
“What could be a worse way to destabilize a society than to cut electricity on such a large scale?” prosecutor Baribeau said.
The way the crime was committed and the extent of the damage made it a first in Canada, with neither the Crown nor the defence able to find legal precedents. But Chevalier concluded the Crown’s recommendation was excessive.
The exact method used to create a short-circuit in the Dec. 4, 2014 attack cannot be reported under a publication ban imposed in the interest of national security.
Much of the trial took place with the public barred, and the decision finding Dubé guilty in September is partially redacted.
However, Judge Chevalier quoted an expert witness from Canada’s National Research Council as saying the technique had been used during conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Serbia and was “easily accessible on the internet.”
A close reading of the judgment indicates that unidentified materials were dropped on the lines from the plane at three locations on the same day, prompting short circuits that ricocheted across the Hydro-Quebec grid.
The pilot, inventor and entrepreneur held a deep grudge against Hydro-Quebec that stemmed from a dispute over work done by the
HE CAREFULLY PREPARED IT AND DID NOT ACT IMPULSIVELY.
utility on land he owned in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines.
According to the prosecution, Dubé also blamed the utility for his tax problems.
Despite having only finished high school, Dubé is a successful inventor, having designed a single-engine aircraft called the Aerocruiser — which he used in the attack — and built a successful general aviation business.
He also invented a solar panel system and a machine to eliminate insects infesting commercial greenhouses that grow tomatoes, according to the judge.
Chevalier also agreed to the Crown’s request to confiscate the plane Dubé used in the attack.
Dubé admitted overflying the power lines on the day of the blackout but denied committing sabotage. Dubé’s lawyer told the court his client could not be considered a terrorist because he was not a follower of any political or religious ideology.
The defence had argued for a much shorter sentence — either three years in prison or less than two years in a provincial jail followed by three years probation.
A lawyer for Dubé, Mario Lavigne, said he plans to appeal.
Meanwhile, the pilot faces a lawsuit from Hydro-Quebec seeking to recoup the millions lost during the blackout.