ENGINEER UGO LAPOINTE AND
LE SOLEIL (a Quebec City newspaper)
On December 3, 2010, Le Soleil, a Quebec City french newspaper, published a short article, Petrole et gaz gaspesiens: redevances zero! (Gaspe's Oil and Gas: Zero Royalties!), which featured energy companies Petrolia and Junex operations on the Gaspe Peninsula.
The article reported that Petrolia has so far extracted over 2,140 barrels of oil from one of its experimental wells on the Gaspe Peninsula without paying any royalties to the Province of Quebec. The article also reported that energy company Junex sold $363,932 of oil and natural gas from its Gaspe experimental operations without paying royalties.
Ugo Lapointe, with the Coalition Pour que le Quebec ait meillure MINE!, said (in the context of profits arising from exploratory/ experimental operations) energy companies should pay royalites on the sale of oil and natural gas products. Lapointe was quoted: "C'est du vole a petite echelle" (roughly translated, it's theft on a small scale).
According to Petrolia's January 20, 2011 lawsuit motion against both Le Soleil and Lapointe with the Quebec Court, Lapointe's statement was defamatory. Petrolia sent a letter to Le Soleil on December 8th to correct and retract the statements the company was concerned about, which Le Soleil did not so do. Petrolia then sent a notice dated December 23rd for both Lapointe and Le Soleil to pay $350,000 by January 5, 2011. Both of the defendants did not do so.
Appalaches Resources Inc., and CEO of Puma Exploration Inc.
In Petrolia's January 26, 2011 news release, Petrolia Files a Lawsuit against Le Soleil and Ugo Lapointe, the company is seeking $300,000 in moral damages and $50,000 in exemplary damages, based on false and defamatory accusations. Petrolia has stated that all the possible proceeds from a successful suit (after deduction of court costs) would be transferred to non-profit organizations in the Gaspe Peninsula dedicated to employment growth and economic development.
In its court motion, Petrolia argues (part 30) that the nature of the remarks in the article cannot be justified as a public excercise on the expression of freedom.
Petrolia's news release states that it is a junior oil and gas exploration company. Petrolia Inc., headquartered in Rimouski, Quebec, was first listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2005. Petrolia has both oil and gas interests in Quebec, and holdings in New Brunswick. In Quebec, Petrolia has partnership agreements with Junex, Gastem Inc., and Corridor Resources.
According to petroleum permit information from the Quebec government (dated October 1, 2010), Petrolia acquired 69 oil and shale gas permits in 2005 and 2009:
- 5 permits covering 87,805 hectares of land on November 21, 2005
- 64 permits covering 1,139,752 hectares of land on April 28, 2009
In January, 2008, Petrolia signed a strategic farmout agreement with Pilatus Energy Canada, a Canadian subsidiary of the Pilatus Group of Switzerland, which owned 11 percent of Petrolia in 2009. In an October 7, 2008 news release, Petrolia stated that it intends to produce 5 percent of Quebec's oil consumption. A March 9, 2009 Rigzone article stated that the majority of Petrolia's leases are considered to be very promising and represent almost 70% of Quebec's land-based oil potential.
Over the last three or more years, Lapointe, who was engaged in earning a Masters degree from the Institute of Environmental Sciences at UQAM (Universite du Quebec a Montreal), has been openly critical of the Canadian legal mining principles of free entry. For instance, in his paper, Origins of Mining Regimes in Canada & the Legacy of the Free Mining System, presented York University conference presentation, March 5-7, 2009, he begins:
Why
is
it
that most mining laws and policies in Canada do not allow for
local populations to consent (or not) to mining projects affecting
their communities and environment? Why is it that the vast majority of
mining projects in Canada are not subject to public environmental impact
assessments
which,
even if imperfect, still allow for a level of public
crossexamination and consultation prior to mining? And, perhaps more
importantly, why is it that mineral extraction often has priority over
other possible land uses, even when the value and merit of these
alternative uses have been established (e.g. historically, culturally
and/or ecologically significant areas; municipal development plans;
recreational and customary activities; etc.)?The March 2009 conference, Rethinking Extractive Industry Regulation, Dispossession and Emerging Claims, included the following biography of Ugo:
On February 2, 2011, Mining Watch Canada published a news release, Oil and Gas Company Tries to Stifle Debate: Sues Quebec Mining Coalition Spokesperson, with an interpretation of Petrolia's court action as a SLAPP suit (see below).
The news release also included internet links to the Le Soleil article, the January 5, 2011 letter (in french) from Lapoint's lawyers to Petrolia, and the Coalition Meillure Mine January 28, 2011 (french) press release. In the January 28 release, Ugo Lapointe (rought translation) states: If citizens and organizations can no longer freely criticize the industries and laws governing the exploitation of our resources in Quebec, we are very concerned for democracy in Quebec. The release concludes that the (rough translation) lawsuit appears to be unreasonable, especially in the context of the public debate that is going on in Quebec concerning the exploitation of the resources.
MINING WATCH NEWS RELEASE
Ottawa, Wednesday February 2, 2011 —MiningWatch Canada is deeply dismayed by legal actions taken by a Quebec oil and gas exploration company against Ugo Lapointe, a spokesperson for the Coalition Québec meilleure mine. MiningWatch is a founding member of the coalition and wishes to express its solidarity and support for Mr. Lapointe. It is MiningWatch’s belief that the case is a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) and an attempt to intimidate Mr. Lapointe and stifle critical dialogue about necessary reforms to Quebec’s mineral regime.
The lawsuit, filed by the company Petrolia, was announced on Wednesday, January 28th, and includes the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil.
Lapointe was quoted in Le Soleil giving a critical commentary on the Quebec petroleum industry and the laws that regulate it. Lapointe and his lawyers had previously responded to the company’s concerns in a letter dated January 5. Their letter points out that Lapointe has made no comments directly about Petrolia.
MiningWatch and other coalition members are asking what it would mean for Quebec’s democracy if citizens and organizations were no longer able to openly criticize the industries and the laws that govern the extraction of Quebec’s resources?
Resource royalties are the core issue
The article in question was printed on December 3, 2010 and quoted Lapointe criticizing Quebec’s current laws, which allow the sale of minerals, oil and gas during “exploration” - without paying any royalties. “It’s a loophole that opens the door to all sorts of abuses. These are non-renewable public resources. As soon as a company extracts and sells these resources, they should be paying royalties. That’s the position that Ugo Lapointe was stating, and that members of the coalition continue to take,” commented coalition spokesperson Christian Simard of Nature Québec.
The Le Soleil article reported that the companies Junex and Petrolia sold several hundred thousand dollars of oil while exploring, without paying any royalties.
“How much gas, oil or other minerals can the companies sell during “exploration” without paying royalties? For how many years can they keep this up? It makes no sense. We must fill in the gaps of our current laws. Otherwise, it’s like allowing the theft of a collective and non-renewable endowment. That’s what Ugo was denouncing and what we continue to denounce today,” added Henri Jacob of Action boréale, also a spokesperson for the coalition.
“In a way, this lawsuit speaks to the effectiveness of the Coalition meilleure mine! and our ability to go to the core of the issues – something which elements within the extraction industries clearly see as a threat. We must not, and will not let such a vexatious lawsuit stifle the important debates that are emerging in Quebec,” responded MiningWatch’s Ramsey Hart.