Gasp homeowners say McInnis Cement wronged them

Several homeowners in Port-DanielGascons in the Gaspwant compensation from a cement companyexpected to open a $1.1-billion cement projectinthe town.

In 2013, nine homeowners in the town of2,370 were approached by McInnis Cement and told they'd have to sell offtheir properties to make way for the plant's quarry.

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Over the past two years, the homeowners and the company hadbeen negotiating but wereunable to come toan agreement to buy out the properties.

Breakaway16:40Homeowners in the Gasp want McInnis Cement to compensate them

Some homeowners in Port-DanielGascons in the Gasp say they've been wronged by the McInnis Cement company. The company no longer wants to buy their homes to go ahead with the construction of its plant. The CBC's Rachelle Solomon spoke with a homeowner.

Now,the company says itno longer wants to buy the homes because it hasfigured out a way to build its quarry without having to purchase people's land.

Resident says company backtrackedon plans

Sheila Grant-McInnis,one thelandownersin Port-Daniel-Gascons that had been dealing with company, said she was told she'd have to find a new home elsewhere by June of 2015 in orderto be ready to leave her property in2016.

"We have a snowplowing company and we have a lot of machinery," saidGrant-McInnis.

"We sold all of our equipment, all of our snowplowing company equipment. We sold all of that because we had decided to go to Montreal."

Grant-McInnisfound out in December2015that the company was no longer interested in buying her land.

"I mean we didn't have any news at all," she said.

"You know, everytime we called them, they kept [saying],'Oh yes,keep on searching, keep on searching.'Well good grief, I mean, what's a person supposed to do?"

Residents' demands unreasonable:company

Maryse Tremblay,a spokesperson for McInnis Cement,saidthe company was unable to reach an agreement with the homeowners so it had to look for other options to build its quarry.

She maintainedthe company never had any deal with any of the homeowners

"The residents' demands had been really unreasonable, in excess of the property value by several hundred thousand dollars, like four, five, six,ten times the value of the homes.So as a result, we decided to make some changes to the quarry development plan in order to enable residents to remain in their homes," Tremblaysaid.

"We let them know once we knew for sure. We had no deal."

Sheila Grant-McInnis wrote a letter to the president of McInnis Cement asking for compensation for her business and emotional distress.

"They haven't replied to my letter, they haven't replied to my phone call," shesaid.

McInnis Cement says it is open to discussion with the homeowners in Port-Daniel-Gasconsto find an acceptable solution for everyone involved.