October 31, 2002 — Le Protecteur du citoyen

La protectrice du citoyen juge inacceptable que des administrateurs publics se substituent au législateur

Québec, le 31 octobre 2002 – The Quebec Ombudsman, Mrs. Pauline Champoux-Lesage, has condemned the application of a law and a regulation by the Ministry of the Environment purely by administrative discretion, thus denying citizens the right to obtain a permit. The Ministry of the Environment has committed an abuse of power. The Quebec Ombudsman is asking the Ministry of the Environment to take the necessary actions for the citizens affected to be compensated.

On May 7, 2002, the Ministry of the Environment presented the bill restricting pig farming, adopted on June 5, 2002 by the National Assembly, which imposed a moratorium, retroactively to May 1, 2002, on the issuing of certificates of authorization for pig farming. Although the retroactive effect of the moratorium was set for May 1, 2002, the Ministry of the Environment began to apply it as of April 26, 2002. On April 26, 2002, in fact, the deputy minister for regional operations ordered the regional directors to refrain from signing any certificates of authorization.

The person who contacted the Quebec Ombudsman fulfilled all the conditions of the standards in effect on April 26, 2002. Were it not for the administrative directive to the regional directors, the certificate would have been issued on April 26, 2002, following the recommendation and the proposed decision of the Ministry analyst sent to the regional director.

The Environmental Quality Act does not authorize the minister to refuse to issue a certificate of authorization when all conditions of the regulations are fulfilled. The Quebec Ombudsman believes that citizens' rights must be respected inasmuch as such rights are not formally amended by legislation or regulations. To act otherwise is unacceptable in democratic society.

As the certificate of authorization has not been issued, the Quebec Ombudsman has submitted two recommendations to the Ministry of the Environment:

The Ministry of the Environment should pay fair compensation to the affected citizen for expenses incurred to date and compensate the citizen for damages and lost income caused by the early application of the moratorium to the situation.
The Ministry of the Environment should apply the same compensation measures to any citizens able to prove that the review of their cases was complete and the certificate of authorization had been submitted for signing by the regional director before May 1, 2002.

On September 25, 2002, the Ministry of the Environment informed the Quebec Ombudsman that it would not be following these recommendations. Faced with this situation, on September 30, 2002, the Quebec Ombudsman informed the government and is still awaiting a response from the Premier.

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