Hydro-Quebec

Year Published:  1992
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX4456

Abstract: 
The environmental group Greenpeace and the Mohawk newspaper Indian Times defied a court injunction banning publication of the contracts Hydro-Quebec signed with 13 major industrial customers. Greenpeace did it by holding a news conference in the United States, where the injunction did not apply. According to Doug George, the editor of Indian Times, his paper ignored the ban because the Mohawks consider the Akwesnasne reserve a sovereign nation not bound by Quebec laws. The publication ban, ordered by the Quebec Superior Court at the request of the 13 customers, was enforceable only in Quebec. Details of the contracts ended up being widely publicized in the United States, Norway, and Australia. Critics have said that the cut-rate deals are big money losers for Hydro-Quebec, and that they serve to increase power demand and justify the building of hydro mega-projects in northern Quebec.
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