All posts tagged: federalism

Cities have a say over placement of cell towers, rules Quebec appeal court

In a closely watched ruling by Quebec municipalities that pitted a Montreal suburb against a Canadian telecommunications giant in a constitutional debate over whether a city can prevent a federal enterprise from building a communications tower, the Quebec Court of Appeal held that municipalities cannot prevent the installation of new cell towers but can have a say over its location within its city limits.

In a unanimous ruling that highlights the “significant challenges that can sometimes occur with the installation of communications towers in urban settings,” the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the Montreal bedroom community was not overstepping its bounds nor was it meddling in federal matters when it proposed an alternate site in an industrial sector for the future cell phone tower.