Law360 Canada (December 11, 2020, 4:04 PM EST) -- Appeal by Resolute FP Canada (Resolute) from a decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal that denied its application for a declaration that it did not owe the amount claimed from it by the respondent Hydro-Quebec. In 2011, Resolute, a forest products company, received an unexpected electricity bill for over $3 million from Hydro-Quebec. Hydro-Quebec relied on a clause of a 1926 power contract to significantly increase the price of electricity purchased from it by Resolute, citing levies Hydro-Quebec paid to the Quebec government that it could, under the 1926 contract, claim from Resolute. The 1926 contract was between Canadian International Paper Company (CIP), Resolute’s corporate predecessor, and the Gatineau Power Company. Article 20 of the 1926 contract provided that CIP would accept any increases in the price of electricity that might result from future increases in taxes or charges levied by the provincial or federal governments. Article 22 of the 1926 contract conferred on the parties a right to assign the contract. Gatineau Power purported to assign the 1926 contract to Hydro-Quebec in 1965 during the nationalization of electricity, though Gatineau Power remained bound by the 1926 contract. The trial judge granted a declaration that Hydro-Quebec could not claim the taxes or charges. She found no assignment and that the parties to the 1926 contract were still Gatineau Power and Resolute. The declaration was overturned on appeal. The Court of Appeal found the levies provided for in s. 32 of the Hydro-Quebec Act and s. 68 of the Watercourses Act constituted taxes or charges payable to Hydro-Quebec under the 1926 contract. It determined the 1926 contract had been assigned to Hydro-Quebec by the 1965 contract....