The court ruled that Rabaska’s land will not be returned to agricultural use for the time being, despite outcry from Quebec’s Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA).
• Also read: Rabaska: Lehouillier is “convinced” that the government will not return the country to the green zone
Earlier this week, the UPA contacted the Legault government, urging them to rectify the “deviant situation” and “nonsense” of excluding Rabaska’s land from the green zone by immediately issuing a decree to put them back in converting agricultural land.
“After hearing the submissions of the parties, […] “The court concludes that it is necessary to deny the syndicate’s request for an injunction,” said Supreme Court Justice Claudia Prémont.
The “urgency” argument put forward by the UPA was, among other things, rejected, according to the court’s decision.
An exciting debate
The national UPA, the Fédération de la Chaudière-Appalaches and the Syndicat de l’UPA de Lévis recently joined forces to denounce the use of the lands to the east of Lévis, over which the port and the city of Lévis dispute ownership.
The aim should be to reintegrate the land into the agricultural zone through a decree incorporating the 271.7 hectares that were unnecessarily excluded more than 16 years ago.
These plots of land currently belong to the Rabaska limited partnership, which at the time wanted to build an LNG port project there. The areas were then dezoned by decree, without regard to the Commission de Protection du Territoire Agricole du Québec (CPTAQ).
After the project was abandoned in 2013, the Port of Quebec signed a bid to buy the entire property but was blocked by the City of Lévis, which chose to expropriate 158 hectares to build an industrial park.
However, should the project be abandoned, the government had promised to turn the land into an agricultural zone.
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