(Quebec) The Legault government does not believe that its openness to the fragmentation of agricultural land favors urban sprawl and considers that this fear, formulated by the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), is based on “shortcuts”. However, voices line up behind the union and demand safeguards.
“The fears that I can read, honestly, are more in the interpretation a little, or the imagination of the interpretation that can be done by perhaps making shortcuts”, says the Minister of Agriculture , André Lamontagne, in interview with Press.
He defends the omnibus bill on reducing the administrative burden, tabled by his colleague Lucie Lecours, Minister for the Economy, which proposes this fragmentation to support the development of small farms. Mr. Lamontagne will be present during the clause-by-clause study of the legislative piece at the request of the opposition parties.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
André Lamontagne, Minister of Agriculture
Quebec’s objective: to help villages that are becoming devitalized and allow the next generation of farmers to obtain the right size land. The current system, deplores the minister, “makes life very difficult for young people who have good projects” and 25% of emerging farmers wish to move towards this alternative model.
But as reported Press Monday, the UPA believes this opens the door to urban sprawl. Other voices are also rising to ask for safeguards, in particular the opposition parties, Équiterre and the Jean-Garon Institute.
Read “In the shadows, Quebec is redesigning the agricultural environment”
Mr. Lamontagne affirms that Mr.me Lecours, who is carrying the case, will be ready to make “details” in the law to reassure them. But the substance of the project will not change. “If young and old alike present a promising project for our agriculture and the vitality of the territory, today we do not have the tools to ensure that it is possible,” he indicates.
Trojan horse
The Jean-Garon Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to reflection on major agrifood issues, is not opposed to this objective. But beware, the modification can become a “Trojan horse” which opens the way to real estate speculation, he wrote in his thesis.
The creation of small lots in regions with strong urbanization or vacationing pressure can prove to be an open door to a use other than agriculture.
The Jean-Garon Institute
Same story with Équiterre. “I represent an organization which has set up the network of family farmers and which therefore adheres to the principle of local organic farming, cultivated on small areas compared to current lots. I also represent an organization that is worried about the fragmentation of the territory without prior guarantee of preserving the agricultural vocation of the fragmented territory, ”says its spokesperson, Marc-André Viau.
There are solutions, he underlines, in particular a “tax on use”, which would reduce the taxes of those who actually practice agriculture while further taxing vacationers who benefit from a country house. But we need guarantees, he says.
Bill “catch-all”
This is also the proposition of Québec solidaire. Deputy Ruba Ghazal fears that the Caquista government is trying to “get over it quickly”: “There is a risk of expanding the urban perimeter, and that worries us a lot,” she said.
She adds that in its DNA, Québec solidaire defends “agriculture on a human scale”, but that “it should not be done just any old way”, through an omnibus bill led by the Ministry of the Economy. . “The Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Territory (CPTAQ) will no longer have the sole mandate of protecting the territory. It will also have to do economic development. We’re making a revolution, ”she said.
The Liberal Party of Quebec says it is in favor of fragmentation, but demands guarantees. MP Paule Robitaille wants to ensure that these lands “remain agricultural in the medium and long term”. She fears a “hidden agenda”, secret motives, from real estate developers.
Instead of making a [projet de loi] omnibus, good law reform should be done.
Paule Robitaille, Liberal Party of Quebec spokesperson on agriculture
On the part of the Parti Québécois, we believe that the debate on the place of small farms should be linked to the “national conversation on town planning and land use planning” held in parallel by the Legault government, rather than in a project. of “catch-all” law on the economy.
Other aspects of the bill are causing irritation, in particular a step back on transparency: the documents filed with the CPTAQ to request a dezoning, for example, will no longer be available to the general public, unless they do so. request for access to information. Minister Lamontagne affirms that this modification is made at the request of the Jean-Garon Institute.
However, in its brief, the organization considers that “the restrictions on access to information” in the bill “constitute an obvious step backwards”. This right is “one of the pillars of environmental protection, in addition to being a pledge of a healthy democracy”, writes the Institute.