If Montreal doesn't want a pipeline, Montreal can be moved. This goes for anywhere and anyone who thinks they can stop industry, sh-t bears be damned.
A man who literally lives on a gold mine has been ordered by a Quebec judge to leave his home.
Ken Massé's childhood house is the last obstacle standing in the way of a multibillion-dollar mining project in the town of Malartic, in Quebec's Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.
A Superior Court judge awarded Osisko Mining Corp. possession of Massé's home after the company requested an emergency court decision.
In a ruling presented Tuesday, Judge Robert Dufresne wrote that Massé's house is preventing key preparation work for the mining project from moving forward.
Massé had been scheduled to appear in court next month to fight a government expropriation order.
He has been representing his mother, Mary Elizabeth Wilczynski, who owns the home.
The former Malartic municipal councillor says he turned down a $350,000 offer from Osisko for his $14,000 house.
According to court documents, the family had been seeking $1 million from the mining company.
Now they will receive compensation, determined by a provincial tribunal, in exchange for the home.
Massé was the lone holdout from a relocation project that saw Osisko buy out 204 of 205 homeowners in his neighbourhood, which sits on top of one of Canada's largest gold reserves.
Many of the houses were moved to another part of town, while others were destroyed.
Massé's ramshackle house, which family members only live in part time, sits alone in a vast wasteland of rock and sand as the mining project closes around it.
Mining company pleased
A spokeswoman for Osisko says the company had been trying to reach a deal with Massé and Wilczynski for the last three years.
"It's unfortunate for both sides to end up in court, in front of a judge, to solve the problem," Hélène Thibault said Wednesday from Malartic, about 550 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
"But we are satisfied with the judgment."
Massé has said his fight wasn't about money, but about protecting his personal property rights and preserving his neighbourhood from a massive open-pit mine.
He also had plans to launch a class-action suit against Osisko and the Quebec government seeking more than $200 million, to be divided between himself and his former neighbours.
The court decision says Massé could be forced off the property as early as Monday morning if he refuses to leave.
The Canadian Press
A man who literally lives on a gold mine has been ordered by a Quebec judge to leave his home.
Ken Massé's childhood house is the last obstacle standing in the way of a multibillion-dollar mining project in the town of Malartic, in Quebec's Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.
A Superior Court judge awarded Osisko Mining Corp. possession of Massé's home after the company requested an emergency court decision.
In a ruling presented Tuesday, Judge Robert Dufresne wrote that Massé's house is preventing key preparation work for the mining project from moving forward.
Massé had been scheduled to appear in court next month to fight a government expropriation order.
He has been representing his mother, Mary Elizabeth Wilczynski, who owns the home.
The former Malartic municipal councillor says he turned down a $350,000 offer from Osisko for his $14,000 house.
According to court documents, the family had been seeking $1 million from the mining company.
Now they will receive compensation, determined by a provincial tribunal, in exchange for the home.
Massé was the lone holdout from a relocation project that saw Osisko buy out 204 of 205 homeowners in his neighbourhood, which sits on top of one of Canada's largest gold reserves.
Many of the houses were moved to another part of town, while others were destroyed.
Massé's ramshackle house, which family members only live in part time, sits alone in a vast wasteland of rock and sand as the mining project closes around it.
Mining company pleased
A spokeswoman for Osisko says the company had been trying to reach a deal with Massé and Wilczynski for the last three years.
"It's unfortunate for both sides to end up in court, in front of a judge, to solve the problem," Hélène Thibault said Wednesday from Malartic, about 550 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
"But we are satisfied with the judgment."
Massé has said his fight wasn't about money, but about protecting his personal property rights and preserving his neighbourhood from a massive open-pit mine.
He also had plans to launch a class-action suit against Osisko and the Quebec government seeking more than $200 million, to be divided between himself and his former neighbours.
The court decision says Massé could be forced off the property as early as Monday morning if he refuses to leave.
The Canadian Press