In his recent “throne” speech known as “inaugural” speech, Prime Minister François Legault announced the end of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation operations. He sees it as a significant contribution from Quebec to the fight against climate change. This deserves to be underlined, but also to be put into perspective given the multiple failures of such operations in Quebec.
However, the Prime Minister is silent on the fact that the production of greenhouse gases in Quebec results infinitely more from consumption activities than from the production of fossil fuels. And central to our consumption of this type of energy is our increasing use of ever larger motor vehicles over ever greater distances, as well as our growing love for single-family homes and the “urbanized countryside”.
A cul-de-sac
One of the first actions taken by the Legault government consisted in de-zoning 160 hectares of agricultural land in the MRC de Montcalm including, among others, Saint-Lin – Laurentides, Saint-Esprit and Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan. The MRC de Montcalm roughly corresponds to the provincial riding of Rousseau, for which Mr. Legault was the deputy from 1998 to 2009.
The zoning granted in this region in 2019 had been refused seven times by the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Territory. The last Doc Humanity entitled “Québec, terre d’ashalte” and the last program Investigation perfectly illustrate the cul-de-sac of urban sprawl in Quebec.
The example of Saint-Lin – Laurentides is most eloquent. The signal sent by the dezoning of 2019 launched a race between promoters of all kinds. In recent years, the population of Saint-Lin – Laurentides has exploded under the administration of Mayor Patrick Massé. Result: the water supply of this municipality is totally insufficient, both for those who are connected to the municipal aqueduct and for those who have an artesian well, the municipal system being supplied by the same water table as the individual wells.
Asked about this, the mayor is reassuring. Correcting the situation requires investments that the current population of their city cannot finance. It is therefore necessary to increase this population even more by dezoning even more agricultural land in order to distribute the costs of water supply among more taxpayers. In short, the solution to the problems caused by urban sprawl is urban sprawl!
For the moment, all those who have migrated to Saint-Lin – Laurentides dreaming of a paradise in the countryside are disillusioned. Their property is worth little or nothing (who wants a house lacking water?). They do not consider any other way out than to see their municipal tax notice rise and rise more and more. Developers whose housing projects are underway are stuck. And the mayor Patrick Massé, smelling the hot soup, does not represent himself. He fooled them all …
This scenario is well known. It has been taught in all urban planning courses for a long time, and yet the governments of Quebec do not dare to put an end to it. We are procrastinating. We flatter our suburban electorate. This creates an electoral base that cannot be disappointed. And the problems are only getting worse.
A third crown
The public services associated with a suburban-type neighborhood cost 2.4 times more than those associated with a more urban neighborhood. This includes roads and sidewalks, the aqueduct, waste management, wastewater and rainwater, parks, emergency services (police and fire), public transport, school transport, as well as certain public services and infrastructures in culture, economy and governance.
On January 8, 2019, before the dezoning of the MRC de Montcalm, the mayors of Varennes, Repentigny, Terrebonne and Mascouche publicly launched a cry of alarm and pointed out that a third ring was being formed outside the Community. Metropolitan of Montreal (CMM). The latter has no authority over this third ring, the development of which the current Quebec government is not slowing down.
It could at least extend the territory of the CMM so as to circumscribe this third ring. But we are not even considering it. These people vote for the CAQ. It is important not to alienate them.