Home and property of Quebec oil company president vandalized in Quebec City

MONTREAL — A far-left activist group has claimed responsibility for vandalizing the home and property of the president and CEO of Junex Inc., an oil and gas company conducting exploratory drilling in Quebec's Gaspesie region.

Media reports revealed the Quebec City-area home of Jean-Yves Lavoie was sprayed with paint and at least one of the windows of a car on his property was smashed during the night of Nov. 16.

The group has not formally identified itself, but it ended a threatening letter claiming responsibility for the vandalism with the words, "Quebecers against Quebec."

In the letter, submitted anonymously to an activist website called "Montreal Counter-Information," the group said it smashed windows of Lavoie's cars, slashed his tires and covered his house in paint.

Junex is drilling a series of exploratory wells over 6,736 hectares of land on what it calls the "Galt Oil Project," located on the Gaspe Peninsula, about 700 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.

The company says on its website it has received an estimate there are roughly 557 million barrels of oil in the region.

"It is only after the completion of this exploration program that the company intends to begin commercial production of the deposit," the website states.

The activists believe the company is threatening the water and soil of the peninsula and that Lavoie's "dream of becoming rich through the destruction of territory will not come to pass."

"Collective efforts of earth defence — blockades, support camps, demos, education campaigns — as well as all the autonomous initiatives put forward by a multitude of indigenous and non-indigenous groups will be much more powerful than the work Mr. Lavoie and Junex can accomplish in one life," the activist group said in its online letter.

In August, CBC reported about 12 masked protesters blockaded a road leading up to a well on the Galt site.

Calls to Lavoie were not returned and the Quebec City police were not immediately able to say whether an investigation into the vandalism was ongoing.

The Canadian Press