Case information

Constitutional law — Land — Interjurisdictional immunity — Federal paramountcy — Environmental law — Whether land on which IMTT built storage tanks and new loading ramp, and on which tanks acquired from Degussa are located, was public property owned by United Province of Canada on July 1, 1867, when Constitution Act, 1867 came into force — If so, whether land must be considered provincial public property or federal public property in light of ss. 108, 109 and 117 of Constitution Act, 1867 — If land is part of federal public property, whether ss. 22, 31.1 and 31.1.1 of Environment Quality Act (CQLR, c. Q 2) are constitutionally inapplicable in all respects to construction of storage tanks and loading ramp and to operation of storage terminal on land situated in port area administered by Quebec Port Authority, pursuant to doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity — If land is part of public property of province of Quebec, whether ss. 22, 31.1 and 31.1.1 of Environment Quality Act (CQLR, c. Q 2) are constitutionally inapplicable in all respects to construction of storage tanks and loading ramp and to operation of storage terminal on land situated in port area administered by Quebec Port Authority because of federal navigation and shipping power under s. 91(10) of Constitution Act, 1867, pursuant to doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity — If doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity is not applicable, whether doctrine of federal paramountcy applies in relation to construction of storage tanks and loading ramp and operation of storage terminal on land situated in port area administered by QPA.

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The respondent IMTT is a tenant of the respondent Quebec Port Authority (“QPA”) and operates transshipment and storage terminals for bulk liquids at the port. In 2006, IMTT applied to the federal authorities in order to carry out a project involving the construction of new tanks. In an application for an injunction filed in 2008, the applicant, the Attorney General of Quebec, argued that Quebec environmental legislation applied. The application was contested by IMTT, which also filed a separate motion for a declaratory judgment jointly with the QPA. They argued that IMTT’s facilities and activities were under the exclusive authority of the Parliament of Canada, which meant that the legislation relied on by Quebec was inapplicable and inoperative.

The Superior Court found that the current site of IMTT’s facilities was owned by the Government of Canada and that IMTT was a federal undertaking. It was also of the view that the doctrine of federal paramountcy should be applied and that, among other things, the provisions of the Quebec scheme requiring provincial authorization should be declared constitutionally inoperative in relation to IMTT’s activities and facilities. In contrast, the Court of Appeal found that the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity could be relied on against the provincial legislation in this case and that certain provisions of Quebec’s Environment Quality Act, if applied to IMTT’s activities and facilities, would impair the core of the exclusive federal jurisdiction to control the development, use and regulation of federal public property for the purpose of exercising a federal power. Those provisions were therefore declared constitutionally inapplicable to IMTT’s activities and facilities.