Vice-President's Response Regarding the Saint-Hubert Airport Development Project in Longueuil

Physical Activities

Développement Aéroport Saint-Hubert de Longueuil and Partenaires d'infrastructure YHU propose to build a new terminal and adapt various elements on the site of the Montreal Metropolitan Airport (YHU; formerly known as the Montreal Saint-Hubert Airport). The project will enable the airport, which currently receives no commercial flights (citizen transport), to obtain the capacity to handle four million domestic commercial passengers annually.

Delegation of Powers to IAAC

Under subsection 154(1) of the Impact Assessment Act (the IAA), the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (the Minister) may, subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister specifies, delegate to IAAC any powers, duties, or functions that the Minister is authorized to exercise or perform under the IAA. On July 26, 2024, the Minister delegated the authority to respond to requests for designation, for which limitations on designation described under subsection 9(7) of the IAA apply, to the President or Vice-President of Operations of IAAC.

Decision

Non-designated physical activities

Reasons

Pursuant to paragraph 9(7)(a) of the IAA, the Minister must not exercise their power to designate if the carrying out of the physical activity has substantially begun. I have considered the Guidance for interpreting "substantially begun" under subsection 9(7) and "substantially begin" under subsections 70(1) and 70(3) of the Impact Assessment Act. Therefore, the Minister cannot designate the Saint-Hubert Airport Development Project in Longueuil for the following reason:

• Between July 2023 and the date of receipt of the application for designation on September 27, 2024, the promoters carried out, over a long period of time, various permanent works directly related to the concrete activity. These works, which have significantly altered the airport site, were at various stages of completion at the date of receipt of the application for designation:
  • Construction of a terminal building
  • Modification of a hangar into a fire station
  • Construction of fuel tanks
  • Rehabilitation of the main taxiway
  • Closure of runway 10-28 and conversion to taxiway
  • Extension of a taxiway to link the new terminal to taxiway Tango
  • Installation of traffic lights on additional taxiways
  • Construction of an aircraft apron
  • Ordering equipment such as baggage handling systems, walkways, passenger check-in systems, etc.