thanks to Pierre Trudeau who purposely left property rights out of our charter. we don't own anything in Canada. you simply lease it from the gov. many times they have taken items and property from people. today they did it again.
coles notes. gold company finds gold in rual city. wants to open pit mine the whole place. buys 204 propertys from owners above vaule. owners take money and are happy. 205th house refuses to sell and move.
gov says GTFO. mining company has rights to the gold under your house. but you have no rights to own your house.
it's been going on for while, but now the final judge decession is in
granted, the guy is a dumb ass refusing $350k for a house worth 14k. but that doesn't give the gov. the right to take it away.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/1...d_mine_holdout
By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - A man's dream to keep his roost atop a gold mine has been buried by a Quebec judge.
Ken Masse's childhood house is the last obstacle standing in the way of a multibillion-dollar mining project in the town of Malartic. But he has refused to budge.
Masse, 35, balked at lucrative offers for his mother's home and stared down an expropriation order, even after the neighbourhood was transformed from residential area to wasteland.
But Masse's stance buckled Tuesday under a Superior Court judge's order that awarded Osisko Mining Corp. possession of the property.
Osisko warns that Masse now has until Monday to get out.
In his ruling, Justice Robert Dufresne wrote that Masse's house is holding back key preparation work for the mining project, set to exploit one of Canada's largest gold reserves.
The former Malartic municipal councillor, who has been representing his mother, said 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 market-level compensation determined by a provincial tribunal in exchange for the home. Osisko must also provide additional sums to help defray the costs of moving.
The reclusive, thick-bearded man has said his fight wasn't about money, but about protecting property rights and the environment from a massive open-pit mine.
Supporters of the project, including Malartic's mayor, say Osisko will bring tax revenue and jobs to the declining mining town located about 550 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Mayor Andre Vezeau hopes the ruling means the town of 3,500 can finally turn the page and get to work.
"Most people find it a shame that Mr. Masse is left with so little when he could have had so much more," Vezeau said in an interview Wednesday.
"We are disappointed that it came to this — we would have preferred that it be resolved on friendlier terms."
Vezeau expects Masse and his mother, Mary Elizabeth Wilczynski, to get little more than market value for the 70-year-old, two-floor house.
Masse was the lone holdout from a relocation project that saw Osisko buy out 204 of 205 homeowners in his neighbourhood, which literally sits on top of the deposit.
Many of the houses were moved to another part of town, while others were destroyed.
His ramshackle house sits alone in a grey landscape of rock and sand as the mining project closes around it.
Masse had been scheduled to appear in court next month to fight a government expropriation order, but the date was moved up after Osisko requested an emergency court decision.
Locals believe Masse's curious showdown with the mining company was due in large part to the influence of a fast-talking, self-proclaimed billionaire named Rejean Aucoin.
Aucoin, described by the family as an adviser, was at the centre of a bizarre courtroom incident Monday that was outlined in the judge's decision.
When proceedings began, Dufresne told Aucoin, who is not a lawyer, he had to sit in the courtroom area reserved for the public.
The judge wrote that Aucoin continuously interrupted the court, giving directives to Masse and Wilczynski.
Aucoin was eventually escorted out of the courtroom by security guards.
On his way out, he told Masse and Wilczynski to follow him without presenting their arguments — and they did.
"The Court deplores the departure of Ms. Wilczynski and Mr. Masse," Dufresne wrote in the 12-page decision.
"The Court will not be taken hostage by parties that refuse to submit their arguments."
Neither Aucoin nor Masse could be reached for comment Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Osisko says the company had been trying to reach a deal with the Masse family for the last three years.
Now, Helene Thibault says they have to be out of the house before 8:45 a.m. on Monday.
"It's unfortunate for both sides to end up in court, in front of a judge, to solve the problem," she said from Malartic.
"But we are satisfied with the judgment."
Masse, who quit his council post last year in protest over the mine, has since isolated himself from most people in town.
Guy Morrissette, the only municipal councillor to oppose the mining project with Masse, wonders how the court decision will affect his former colleague's mental well-being.
"I don't know how he's going to react, that has always worried me — he's so wrapped up in this case," said Morrissette, who had concerns about how quickly the project was approved.
"I know I'm not the only one who's worried."
Still, Morrissette never doubted this day would come.
"It was a question of time," he said.
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