(Quebec) André Lamontagne says he listens to farmers in difficulty. The opposition parties, however, are asking him to do more, and the UPA believes that after the fine speeches, it must act to stem their “real fed up”.
“It’s a record year which shows that it was an extremely difficult year. But what it also demonstrates is that initially, there is a whole ecosystem that is in place to support producers and this ecosystem, when things are bad, it works, and when things are very bad, it works,” the minister said Thursday during a press scrum at the National Assembly.
The Press reported this morning that the Financière agricole du Québec will pay more than $1 billion to compensate for losses and support the income of producers insured with it since the year 2023 was very hard for Quebec farmers, due to the crisis in the pork industry, flooded fields, early frost and drought, among others.
“These are difficult times. There have been difficult times in the past, and these are difficult times that we will get through,” he said. Mr. Lamontagne said that some farmers have been “harder hit than others,” and that he works “every day” to identify them. “We don’t want to let anyone down,” he said.
Grumble
But these payments do not allay the discontent within producer associations, who are thundering loudly that the crop insurance program is no longer adapted to new climatic realities. Hit by a historic drought, hay producers in Abitibi, for example, believe that they have not been compensated for their losses. Small fruit producers in Montérégie make the same criticisms.
The president of the Union of Agricultural Producers, Martin Caron, believes that these sums will not curb the “fed up” of farmers. Demonstrations are also expected to take place across Quebec in the coming weeks.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Martin Caron, president of the Union of Agricultural Producers
“When there are mobilizations like when we saw in Rimouski, La Malbaie, do you think that they don’t have something else to do with their tractors? When we leave companies to go on the path, it’s because there is real fed up,” he said.
The UPA calls for a rapid review of aid programs, which do not take into account climate change and the reality of farmers, whose net income has fallen dramatically with the rise in inflation and the rise in interest rates. ‘interest.
The UPA cites Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which forecasts a drop in net agricultural income of 49.2% in 2023 and 86.5% in 2024, and affirms that we must go back to the first government of Maurice Duplessis and the third of Mackenzie King to find such a low net income in Quebec.
Urgent program review
The organization has the support of opposition parties in Quebec. Liberal André Fortin believes that agricultural protests could “lead to a situation like in Europe”, unless “the government acts”.
He calls for an urgent review of the Financière agricole programs, and emphasizes that “the amount that was granted last year is not the goodness of the CAQ government, but rather the result of a disastrous season, and the payment of insurance to which farmers subscribe.”
” Teary-eyed “
Quebec Solidaire MP Alejandra Zaga Mendes believes that “anger is brewing, and so is distress”. She reports that during a meeting with the next generation of farmers last week in Shawinigan, she saw “farmers with tears in their eyes, who don’t know how they are going to make it to the end of the month.” “They don’t know where to turn,” she said.
PQ member Pascal Bérubé was present during the demonstration in Rimouski on March 8. “What is happening there is major and will ignite the rest of Quebec, there are major mobilizations everywhere. What was announced yesterday is not enough for an obvious reason, a large part goes to the pork sector. Then, again, it will not be enough, the costs are enormous,” he said.
With the collaboration of Daphnée Cameron, The Press