21. Where, 12 months prior to 31 December 2024, no other contract has been entered into pursuant to section 20, the producer and the municipal body or Aboriginal community, as the case may be, must, within 14 days, begin a mediation process with a mediator selected from a list of mediators selected pursuant to section 53. The producer and the municipal body or Aboriginal community, as the case may be, pay the fees, expenses, allowances and indemnities of the mediator entrusted with the dispute jointly and in equal shares.
The Minister and the Société must be notified by the producer, within the same time limit, of the reasons for the dispute preventing the entering into the contract referred to in section 20 and of the selection of a mediator.
The Minister and the Société must be notified in writing of the outcome by the mediator within 14 days of the end of the mediation process.
The mediation process referred to in the first paragraph may not take longer than 2 months from the date of the notice sent to the Minister in accordance with the second paragraph.
973-2022O.C. 973-2022, s. 21; 1365-2023O.C. 1365-2023, s. 911.