(Longueuil) After five weeks of demonstrations with tractor force, the agricultural producers’ union and the Legault government reached an agreement in principle with additional funds on Monday.
“We have an agreement in principle which will go to the Council of Ministers next week,” announced the Prime Minister, François Legault, after a meeting at the head office of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), in Longueuil. .
“I think it bodes well,” commented the president of the UPA, Martin Caron, after the joint announcement by Mr. Legault and his Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne.
The parties, however, refused to quantify the additional sums promised to the sector.
“We will give you the details of all that after the council of ministers. But if there is a council of ministers, that means that there is money from the government,” replied François Legault.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Prime Minister François Legault with the general president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), Martin Caron
Additional sums will be used to compensate producers affected last summer by “climatic damage”, such as the drought in Abitibi and the heavy rains in the market gardening and horticultural sector, welcomed Mr. Caron.
The program intended to cushion the rise in interest rates, which is particularly difficult for young emerging producers, will be enhanced.
“We hope that Wednesday […] the Bank of Canada will start to lower rates, but the fact remains that we risk having to endure these very high interest rates for a while,” commented Mr. Legault.
The moratorium on cultivable areas will be lifted and replaced by a regulatory framework.
“So there will be conditions, and they will not be the same depending on the situation,” mentioned the Prime Minister, without elaborating further.
The agreement also provides for the reduction of 14 measures, in order to reduce “paperwork and bureaucracy” imposed by two ministries, that of the Environment, the Fight against climate change, Wildlife and Parks, as well as that of Immigration, Francisation and Integration.
“It’s not a reduction in environmental terms, in terms of standards, it’s more of a reduction because there is a lot of paperwork,” said Mr. Caron.
“There is still work to be done,” however, underlined the president of the UPA when referring to the next biofood policy.
“We have been very clear: we want this biofood policy to be the most important social project in Quebec, and for producers to be at the heart of this decision and this action. »
Since the end of December, the UPA has held mobilization activities in 17 municipalities in Quebec.
More than 4,500 producers, accompanied by nearly 2,500 tractors, wanted to communicate “the concrete expression of unequaled fed up,” mentioned the UPA, which says it represents some 29,000 companies.
Read “Tractors leave fields for parking”
See the UPA’s demands