Bill aims to fast-track REM project

With the clock ticking to the official sod-turning, the province has taken the unusual move of stripping citizens of the right to contest a property expropriation in order to fast-track Montreal’s new electric commuter train.

But with changes to the route since the project was launched about a year ago, the potential conflict is considerably downsized — only about a dozen private homes are affected by the massive $6-billion transit project, officials at the Caisse de dépôt et placement, which is building the train, confirmed Thursday.

Of the 12, the Caisse has expropriation deals with four owners and is in negotiations with the other eight. The rest of the potential expropriations are commercial and industrial buildings and partially or completely vacant lots.

A total of 113 property deeds are in play, plus an undetermined number of hectares of agricultural land that could be de-zoned from their green status for development.

But in tabling a new bill in the National Assembly altering clauses of the Expropriation Act, the Quebec government is arguing the needs of the many outweigh the rights of a few.

Not adopting the exceptional powers — included in Bill 137 — could result in the kind of unacceptable delays that have dogged many mega projects. In this case, a single challenge could scuttle the work schedule for months.

“We’re not a government of the status quo,” the minister responsible for the Montreal region, Martin Coiteux, said while defending the unorthodox measure. “We’re not into lengthening the cycle to complete projects to the point they are never realized.

“We will not procrastinate. This is a bill against procrastination.”

Coiteux was accompanied by Transport Minister Laurent Lessard and Finance Minister Carlos Leitão.

All three balked at the idea they were taking away rights, insisting the bill is just “streamlining” the expropriation process.

But a clause of the bill clearly takes away the right of landowners to contest an expropriation before a Quebec administrative tribunal. The ministers noted another part of the Expropriation Act, allowing a citizen to challenge the amount Quebec is offering in compensation, remains.

The immediate focus is on negotiations, and Quebec has set aside $160 million to pay for the expropriations, part of the $1.3 billion it has earmarked for the train. Quebec is waiting for a similar amount from Ottawa.

The Caisse has promised to have shovels in the ground by the fall of 2017 and trains rolling by the end of 2020. The 67-kilometre system will connect downtown Montreal to the South Shore, Deux-Montagnes, West Island and Trudeau airport.

The opposition said it was worried about the kind of powers the bill accords — in this case to Transport Quebec.

“This amounts to a legal bulldoze,” Parti Québécois finance critic Nicolas Marceau told reporters. “They are getting out the big artillery.

“The government is ready to do anything to fulfil its electoral promise and they go very, very far. Today, rights are being taken away from citizens.”

He said the bill amounts to intimidation because citizens, knowing they have no recourse in fighting the expropriation, will cave in and accept whatever amount Quebec offers.

Coalition Avenir Québec critic Benoit Charette said the bill is premature since it’s unclear the project can go ahead without the support of the federal government.

“It’s definitely too much power for the Caisse de dépot, and above all, lots of uncertainty for the owners,” Charette said.

The Caisse says it has changed a number of elements in the project including the route. That means Sylvie Gagnon, who went public to complain she would lose the heritage home she inherited from her grandfather, has learned her home is no longer at risk.

Three heritage buildings on the island have also been spared.

Two species of animals, the little bittern and boreal chorus frog, are no longer affected, and the Caisse is looking for ways to re-locate brown snakes.