Whereas The duty recently published a report on megapigsties, the MNA for Champlain and President of the Conseil du trésor, Ms.me Sonia Lebel, was invited to comment on the subject. A project for 12,000 pigs is indeed in the process of being accepted, in Saint-Adelphe, a small village in his riding. In an interview with Radio-Canada, she acknowledged both the legitimacy of citizen concerns and the promoter’s compliance with current rules. She also affirmed that she was ready to look into a revision of the framework in the future. We invite M.me Lebel and his government to act now for the following reasons.
First of all, as a jurist and politician, Ms.me Lebel is well aware that the rules in place are the result of a balance of power between the various players in society. They do not come from neutral experts. For example, the Louis Robert affair revealed to us the role of pesticide companies in determining the legal framework surrounding their use. Mr. Robert also highlighted the fact that the current standards governing phosphorus were unsuitable. The population has also become aware of the conflicts of interest in the world of agriculture with agronomists-advisors who are also sellers of controversial products. Another example, a few years ago, another journalistic investigation told us that only 50% of spreading was carried out while respecting the separating distance from watercourses. Shouldn’t the rules be respected by everyone at all times?
Why then M.me Does Lebel value the changes made in 2018 by the previous government concerning the increase in the number of pigs allowed without BAPE when, as pointed out The duty, a study conducted and published in Nature Geoscience in 2018 showed that watersheds in agricultural areas would need 1000 to 1500 years without phosphorus input to fully recover their health, because of this accumulation”? Remember that the majority of phosphorus comes from the liquid manure produced by seven million pigs, mainly intended for export. It is probably not for nothing that experts like Stéphane Campeau, specialist in watersheds and aquatic systems at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, are calling for a new moratorium like the one adopted in 2003. moreover, after strong citizen mobilization, such a moratorium was adopted by the National Assembly. It was also during this period of sound reflection that a study was produced by the BAPE. However, the recommendations of this report are far from having been applied in their majority! These were expert recommendations…
For example, let us mention the proposal to assess the impact of projects on an entire watershed or the recommendation insisting on the importance of setting up a consultation process prior to the certificate of acceptance of the Ministry of the Environment…rather than afterwards as is currently the case. Other courses of action aimed at protecting the environment, rural vitality and living together have been shelved, although several were included in the Pronovost report on the future of agriculture in 2008.
Ms. Lebel, we invite you, with your colleagues from Agriculture and the Environment, to suspend the project in Saint-Adelphe in order to take stock of the rules in place, because the current practices, if they are legal, are clearly illegitimate. This is also the meaning of the petition tabled in the National Assembly. In addition, we are far from a development model based on local consumption and food self-sufficiency aimed in particular at reducing GHG emissions, which is essential in the context of the climate crisis.
* Other signatories:
Véronique Bégin, founder of the Environmental Protection Committee and resident of Saint-Adelphe;
Gabriel Leblanc, president of the Union paysanne; Rébecca Pétrin, Executive Director of Eau Secours;
Denise Proulx, lecturer, associate researcher, Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM;
Serge Giard, President of Victims of Pesticides of Quebec (VPQ)