TORONTO, Nov. 20 /CNW/ - St. Lawrence Cement (SLC) acknowledges the decision released today by the Supreme Court of Canada on the class action law suit filed by a group of residents from Beauport, Québec.

SLC is pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that the company committed no fault in operating the Beauport cement plant prior to its decommissioning in 1997.

However, the implications of today's confirmation by the Supreme Court of Canada that a no-fault liability regime does exist in the Province of Québec may have far reaching implications for Canadian industry. This precedent setting decision will require further review and detailed analysis, not only by SLC, but by all potentially impacted Canadian companies, in order to better understand our obligations consequent to this ruling.

SLC does acknowledge that, despite using state-of-the-art equipment to manage dust and consistently complying with all regulatory requirements, there was annoyance to our neighbors from the operation of the plant.

SLC is very committed to the over 50 Canadian communities in which we operate today. As a responsible industry leader, we are committed to doing the right thing for our employees and neighbors while operations are active and when we decommission sites.

Today, community advisory boards are in place for both SLC cement plants, we host regular community open houses to demonstrate how our processes and technologies work, and we actively engage with community members to understand their issues and complaints and to resolve them as quickly as possible.

SLC is a leading producer and supplier of products and services for the construction industry, serving customers across Canada. SLC employs approximately 3,000 Canadians and generates annual revenues over $1.5 billion.