Latest news with #ProceedingsAgainsttheCrownAct
CBC
25-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Ontario contractor dealt yet another blow in legal battle with N.B. government
An Ontario construction company has been dealt another legal blow in its fight against the New Brunswick government over three major bridge projects. New Brunswick Court of Appeal Justice Kathleen Quigg dismissed Julmac Contracting Ltd.'s motion seeking to appeal a lower court's choice not to grant an injunction that would have allowed its employees to return to work on the three projects. Speaking to lawyers for the two parties in court Friday, Quigg said she did not think Julmac had satisfied criteria needed for an appeal to go forward. She said she also found no reason to doubt the correctness of Court of King's Bench Justice Richard Petrie's earlier decision denying the injunction request. "Overall, the moving party has not convinced me that the proposed appeal would have had a reasonable possibility of success," Quigg said. Quigg dismissed Julmac's motion and ordered the company to pay $1,500 in costs to the province. The decision marks the latest chapter in a feud between the New Brunswick government and Julmac, which had been contracted by the province to do work on the Anderson and Centennial bridges in Miramichi, as well as the Mactaquac Dam bridge near Fredericton. However, the relationship between the two parties soured in 2023, with Julmac filing a free trade complaint and civil lawsuit alleging the province applied stricter standards to its work than to New Brunswick companies. The allegations haven't been tested in court, but on Feb. 20, the province abruptly ordered Julmac to remove itself from the three projects. Julmac filed a motion in the Court of King's Bench asking for an interlocutory injunction that would effectively allow its employees to resume work, arguing the injunction would prevent "irreparable harm" from coming to it and its 120 employees while it pursued legal action against the province for removing it from the projects. On March 28, Petrie denied the injunction request, writing that the court did not have jurisdiction to grant one under the Proceedings Against the Crown Act. Lawyers make arguments Earlier Friday, lawyers for Julmac and the province argued for and against allowing an appeal of Petrie's decision. Julmac lawyer Shalom Cumbo-Steinmetz argued there was case law where an injunction had been granted under similar circumstances. "There's good reason to doubt the correctness of the decision [by Petrie]," Cumbo-Steinmetz said. "Appellate intervention is needed." Mark Heighton, lawyer for the province, disagreed, arguing the cases cited were different in circumstances from the facts in this case. Heighton added that an injunction in this case would effectively act as "final relief" in favour of Julmac. He urged Quigg to dismiss the motion. New contracts awarded Part of Julmac's request for an injunction also sought to prevent the province from awarding contracts for the three projects to other companies. On Friday, Frederick McElman, a lawyer for the province, revealed that contracts had been awarded this week to complete the work on the Mactaquac Dam bridge, as well as the Anderson Bridge, though he did not say which companies received them. CBC News has asked the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure for information about the three projects. Under the Proceedings Against the Crown Act, Julmac had to give the province 60 days' notice before filing a lawsuit for being removed from the projects.
CBC
08-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Judge denies Ontario contractor's bid to return to work on 3 bridges
Social Sharing Julmac Contracting, the Ontario company kicked off three major bridge projects in New Brunswick, will not be allowed to return to work while its lawsuit against the province over contract breaches drags on. In a decision issued March 28, Justice Richard Petrie said he would not grant Julmac the injunction it had sought. Julmac had asked for an interlocutory injunction, a provisional measure that would have allowed company employees to return to work on the Anderson and Centennial bridges in Miramichi, as well as the Mactaquac Dam bridge near Fredericton. The injunction application had also asked the province not to hire third-party contractors to complete the work. In his decision, Petrie wrote that the court did not have jurisdiction to grant the injunction under the 1973 Proceedings Against the Crown Act. WATCH | Judge denies injunction request while lawsuit continues: Judge says no to Julmac Contracting injunction 13 minutes ago Duration 1:01 He said the court has jurisdiction to maintain the status quo while the lawsuit continues. Petrie disagreed with Julmac's argument that restoring the contractor to working on the contracts would be the status quo. The company's definition of the status quo "would not simply preserve the status quo but in fact redefine the parties' contractual rights and likely represent a final remedy," Petrie wrote said. David Outerbridge, one of the lawyers representing Julmac, declined to comment when reached Tuesday, noting that Julmac is appealing the decision. The province's lawyer, Mark Heighton, did not respond to a request for comment. In the facts of the case, Petrie cited an affidavit from Renee Morency-Cormier, the construction director with the Transportation and Infrastructure Department, who said Julmac had made little progress on the bridge projects, "and contractual completing dates were not achieved." As well, the company "took an adversarial approach" to working with the department, Morency-Cormier said. Petrie also cited an affidavit from Julmac owner Derek Martin, who said the province's concerns "were not valid." Contractor sees 'irreparable financial harm' Martin claimed that removing Julmac from the contracts brought the company "irreparable financial harm." Work on the largest of the stalled Julmac contracts, the Centennial bridge, was pushed back from this summer, the province announced in February. The provincial government's public tenders website currently says that new contracts for the Anderson and Mactaquac bridges are "pending." None are listed for the Centennial bridge.
CBC
21-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Julmac asks judge for injunction to allow it to return to work on N.B. bridges
Province argues court doesn't have grounds to grant injunction An Ontario construction company argued in court Thursday that it should be allowed to return to work on three bridge projects the New Brunswick government removed it from on Feb. 10. Julmac Contracting Ltd. is seeking an interlocutory injunction, which is a provisional measure that would allow its employees to return to work on the Anderson and Centennial bridges in Miramichi, as well as the Mactaquac Dam bridge near Fredericton. In a brief filed by its lawyers, Julmac says the injunction would prevent "irreparable harm" to the company and its employees while it pursues a legal challenge to the province's decision to remove it. "Julmac would go back to the job sites. The contracts, which are still in force, would continue to operate as they did before," said Julmac lawyer David Outerbridge, addressing Justice Richard Petrie at the Burton courthouse. At least 25 people — aside from the parties' legal teams — showed up to the small rural courthouse, many of them arriving in pickup trucks and utility vans. The attendees might have hoped for a ruling Thursday that would determine whether Julmac's staff could return to work, however, Petrie wasn't prepared to do that. At the outset, Petrie said the record for the motion contained about 2,000 pages of evidence. With that came the need to sort through which of those should be admissible before he could weigh the merits of the injunction request. "All of this lands on my lap in the midst of a significant scheduling challenge," he said. Province argues no grounds for injunction Petrie said instead of dealing with the evidence Thursday, he suggested the two parties address a more foundational issue raised by the province. In its response to Julmac's motion, the provincial government argued that an injunction isn't even an option that Julmac could pursue in this case. Image | Approach Channel Bridge Caption: The Approach Channel Bridge bridge runs adjacent to the Mactaquac generating station and allows traffic to cross the dam. (Shane Fowler/CBC) Open Image in New Tab Lawyer Mark Heighton said the province did not act in a manner that was outside of its statutory authority when it decided to remove Julmac from the projects. Therefore, an injunction to effectively rescind the province's default notices against Julmac wouldn't be allowed under the Proceedings Against the Crown Act. "There are a number of leaps you are going to need to make in order to conclude that an injunctive relief is even available," Heighton said. "You don't have New Brunswick case law that guides you on this and I'd suggest what Julmac is asking you to do is to read into case law that doesn't directly apply to this situation." New tenders being issued for work After hearing arguments, Petrie announced he would reserve his decision on whether an injunction is an option in this case. That prompted Outerbridge to ask for another injunction to prevent the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure from awarding contracts for the projects to other companies. "I think it's completely unfair of Julmac to make this suggestion," said Frederick McElman, a lawyer for the province, in response. McElman referred to evidence on the record indicating that tenders for two of the projects would be reissued this month, with the contracts expected to be awarded in early April. Petrie agreed that Outerbridge's last-minute request was inappropriate and assured both parties he'd have a ruling before then. "The best I can do is give my decision as soon as I can," he said.
