Farmers in the Quebec region are skeptical about the Legault government’s desire to reinstate the Farmland Protection Act. They fear that a possible relaxation of the existing regime will accelerate urban sprawl at the expense of arable land.
Last month, Quebec announced that public consultations would soon be held to modernize the law passed in 1978. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne, intends to consult as many people as possible around the world, including at the municipal level.
Cities surveyed
The announcement of a national consultation on the territory and farming activities was made jointly by Mr Lamontagne and Minister for Municipal Affairs Andrée Laforest.
The idea of giving communities a voice does not bode well for the President of the UPA Federation of Capitale-Nationale-Côte-Nord, Yves Laurencelle.
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Yves Laurencelle is worried about the reintroduction of the Law on the Protection of Agricultural Lands.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
He reiterates that it is mainly due to the impulse of cities that agricultural land disappears every year to make way for the construction of residential areas or industrial parks. The UPA regional president believes the wolf has just been brought into the herd.
Thousands of acres less
They are the main causes that devour agricultural land. How can we sit down with them to reinstate a law designed to protect us when cities say this law is too strict and that we’ve lost in the last seven years? [au Québec] 9,000 hectares of good agricultural land? asks Mr. Laurencelle in an interview with Radio-Canada.
The enemy is not the cities, but the people [planifient] their development. They are the ones who don’t understand the importance of farmland.
The owner of Ferme JP Côté et fils inc. from Neuville, Demsey Côté, owns agricultural land in the neighboring municipality of Donnacona. He says dezoning of agricultural land around his fields has encouraged the construction of houses and factories in recent years.
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Demsey Côté has no intention of ditching his land in Donnacona in favor of a housing development.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Mr Côté claims it is only a matter of time before developers set their sights on his country.
Taken to battle
We know very well that when they are on the road, they will not stop there. They will want to go somewhere else, then they will want to come to us. […] Later I’m caught fighting it, that’s heaven, says the farmer and milkman.
I did not buy this land to sell it [à des promoteurs]. I bought it for myself, I bought it for my kids, I bought it for future generations.
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Demsey Côté’s agricultural property in Donnacona is on the edge of a residential area.
Photo: Radio Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Minister Lamontagne wants to reassure. The aim of the forthcoming consultations is to take into account the many changes that have taken place in the agricultural sector since the law was passed in 1978, at the suggestion of one of its predecessors, Jean Garon.
Enliven the environment
The context has changed, the reality of our farmers, our producers has changed. Access to land has been affected in very important ways. “We must take note of all this and then see today what kind of commitment we can make to our agricultural territory for the years to come, to better protect it, make it more accessible, but also give new energy to our farms,” argues André Lamontagne.
He adds that the goal of the reform is to maintain the food production capacity of Quebec’s agricultural area and to improve farmers’ access to property.
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Minister André Lamontagne reiterates that the proposed legislative reform aims to better preserve the agricultural area’s food capacity. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio Canada / Ivanoh Demers
The aim is to ensure that our producers can practice their trade on their land in a completely correct manner and that they don’t end up in all sorts of situations when they own agricultural land and their right to produce is called into question, explains the minister.
The first phase of the consultation starts this summer and will last until late autumn. A regional tour follows in winter. The exercise will gather the concerns, comments and suggestions of stakeholders from agriculture, community and environment.
With information from Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc