Developer goes to court for over project halted by at-risk Western chorus frog

OTTAWA — You’re unlikely ever to see a Western chorus frog, and not just because it’s so tiny it could easily sit on your fingertip. The diminutive amphibians are secretive, rarely seen except on warm nights during the breeding season, when the males come out to call.

Then, too, its numbers in Canada have been on the decline. While the frog occurs across large areas of the United States, its range in Canada is limited to southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, where development has destroyed many of the temporary ponds the frogs need to breed. In 2010, the amphibian was listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act.

Some of the last major groups of Western chorus frogs in Quebec live in the region of La Prairie, on Montreal’s South Shore. There, the tiny, elusive frogs have caused a years-long dispute after the federal government in 2016 issued an unprecedented emergency order to halt development on two square kilometres of land to protect their habitat. The decision was lauded by environmental groups, but raised the ire of developers, the city of La Prairie, and the provincial environment minister, who suggested it was an example of Ottawa meddling in provincial affairs.

Now, three years after the order was issued, one developer is going to court next week to fight for compensation for the land he claims the government has effectively expropriated, even as Ottawa says it has yet to make a decision about whether payment is necessary.

Under the 2002 Species at Risk Act, the federal environment minister can recommend an emergency protection order if a species faces “imminent threats to its survival or recovery.” The orders can prohibit a wide range of activities that could hurt the species or damage its habitat, but it’s a power that’s rarely been used. The Western chorus frog emergency order was only the second ever issued, and the first that blocked development on private property.

The order applies to parts of three South Shore municipalities, including La Prairie, which the federal government in July 2016 said were “identified as habitat that is necessary for the recovery of the Western chorus frog.” Several developers had projects in the area, including Ted Quint, president of Quintcap, whose Symbiocité residential development was already partly built when the order was issued. The order meant that 171 of the development’s 1,400 residential units could not be built.

“I’m the owner, but I’ve been stripped of all the value of my property,” Quint told the National Post in an interview. “What kind of ownership is that?”

Quint said he’s made his peace with not being able to build on the land, but wants the federal government to compensate him to the tune of nearly $25 million — to date, no compensation has been offered. He filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in 2017, which will be going to trial in Montreal on Monday. “How does the government think they can just get away with stuff like this?” he said.

In its statement of defence, the government denies it has effectively expropriated Quint’s land, arguing only activities that would prevent the recovery of the species have been prohibited. According to the order, those activities include removing soil, damaging vegetation, altering surface water and building infrastructure.