SAINT-JACQUES-LE-MINEUR – By targeting assets of more than a million dollars, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois “attacks the next generation of farmers”, pleads the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec.
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“There are plenty of people who have assets of a million dollars… We only have to think of our farmers who have things that are worth that, but who in everyday life, it is far from ‘to be an easy life,’ said Dominique Anglade, present on the farm of Jean-Claude Poissant, his candidate in the riding of Huntingdon.
“If I just look back at me, the combine, it’s already worth a million dollars.”
Yesterday, Québec solidaire announced that it would create a new tax for all those who hold more than $1 million in net assets, as well as for estates that exceed this amount.
“He [GND] is attacking the next generation of farmers,” declared Mr.me England.
“When we talk about the need to have young people who want to get involved in agriculture, you can’t tell me that these are the young people we want to tax.
His candidate also points out that a million in the agricultural sector is not much when you look at all the assets present on a land because of the hard intergenerational work.
“There have been sacrifices from generation to generation. Before saying that a person is rich, it is necessary to think of all the past of a company , added Jean-Claude Poissant.
“When a farmer has trouble getting there and we are going to tax him more to do his job, there is a problem.”
Life’s work
According to the chef, it is “one example among millions of examples”.
“This is an example of agriculture. When parents have worked all their lives and have decided to transfer the heritage of even a house for their child, I don’t think we should tax them,” said the leader of the PLQ.
Dominique Anglade argues that holding $1 million in net assets mainly demonstrates “the work that has been done by many Quebecers” during their lifetime.
“We don’t want to look at it that way. We tabled our financial framework. We want to make sure that there are more rich people who pay, but it’s about banks, it’s about looking in tax havens. It is not a question of looking in the Quebec class”, she mentioned.
The PLQ also intends to increase the taxes of wealthy individuals earning more than $300,000 a year.
Curb urban sprawl
On this foggy Wednesday morning, Dominique Anglade said that urban sprawl “is on the rise” on agricultural land in Quebec.
This sprawl needs to be “curbed,” she says.
The Liberal leader wants agricultural activities to be protected because of new real estate developments, in order to protect the activities of farmers.
“The objective is for there to be a cohabitation between this urban sprawl and agricultural activities,” she mentioned.
Ms. Anglade plans to give farmers a boost if elected by looking into several reforms to help them cope with inflation and the challenges of climate change.
A complete review of the programs of the Financière agricole is thus part of the commitments made by the party in its electoral platform.
The implementation of a tax incentive when selling land has also been put forward to help the next generation of farmers, as has a reform of the Act respecting the protection of the territory in order to allow producers to cope with the urban sprawl.
The PLQ once again accused the CAQ government of having notably granted privileges to the web giant Google for the construction of its data center on agricultural land in Beauharnois, to the detriment of local farmers.
The Liberal leader will also meet the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) this afternoon.
-With the collaboration of QMI Agency.