The government is tied hand and foot in the matter of Rabaska lands located in Lévis, according to the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne. Many fear that this territory, torn from the agricultural fold by decree in 2007, in favor of a dead LNG port, is today fueling desire for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant which has recently made look at Lévis.
The duty confirmed, Monday, that lobbyist Richard Milot, a former CAQ candidate who experienced some legal disputes related to electoral law, had met with the municipal administration to promote the implementation of a liquefied natural gas plant project.
Many in Lévis are worried that the numbered company that employs Richard Milot wants to establish itself on part of the 272 hectares that make up the Rabaska land. The latter, located at the eastern end of Lévis, were once promised to an LNG port which never saw the light of day. Despite the abandonment of the port project in October 2013, the land has never regained its agricultural zoning, to the great dismay of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) and citizen groups.
Monday evening, the issue came up again at the Lévis municipal council when a citizen, Valérie Cayouette-Guilloteau, asked, on behalf of the Collective Rescue of Agricultural Heritage in Lévis and Beaumont, if the City was drawing a definitive line on a possible factory. of LNG on its territory. “You will understand,” said Lévisienne, “that we are largely worried about reliving Rabaska. »
“This matter is in its very early stages,” replied the interim mayor, Michel Patry. In the City of Lévis, there is absolutely nothing on this. »
On Tuesday, a petition claiming 1,500 signatures expired, asking the National Assembly to return the land held by Rabaska, whose area covers 400 football fields, to the agricultural world.
Easier said than done, according to the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne. “The Rabaska file is a very, very, very complicated file,” he said on the sidelines of an announcement in Pintendre on Tuesday morning. The land belongs to the private sector and although the decree adopted in 2007 provided for their exclusion from agricultural zoning, the minister explained, he never considered their return.
The minister is pleased to have amended the law, in 2021, to give the State the capacity to act in such a situation. “These are not retroactive powers where I can go and pose [des actions] on contracts that were made years ago. What is important, he was careful to add, is that from now on, what happened in this matter could no longer happen under the powers we have. Today. »
The urgency to act
For farmer Jean Gosselin, co-founder of the Ruisseaux farm, in Pintendre, and interested in the Rabaska saga since its very beginnings due to the gas pipeline which was to cross his land, there is an urgent need to act: not only the Port of Quebec is eyeing Rabaska’s land, but the City of Lévis also announced its intention, last spring, to repatriate half of the land with the stated objective of developing an industrial zone there.
“These lands were excluded by an emergency decree in 2007,” recalls the farmer. We were running out of gas, we had to move quickly: it is the principle of the decree to move quickly, it was not debated in the National Assembly or anywhere [à l’époque]. In the same way today, there is an urgent need, by decree, to include the lands of Rabaska in an agricultural zone. »
The status quo, he says, leaves these lands at the mercy of the first developer. He also doubts that the government is as handcuffed as it claims to be in this matter. “If the Quebec state has no control over Quebec territory, who does? At the time of Jean Garon, there was a big boss, René Lévesque, who made the decision to adopt a law on the protection of agricultural land. Mr. Lamontagne also has a big boss, then he is arrested. »
The Minister of the Environment, Benoît Charette, accompanied his colleague on Tuesday morning to promote the electrification of the agricultural world initiated by his government. He recalled that any liquefied natural gas plant that wants to set up roots in Quebec, in Lévis or elsewhere, must first comply with the regulations in force before receiving state approval.
“The last experience we have in mind in Quebec is the liquefied natural gas project which was under development in Saguenay-Lac-Saint,” indicated Minister Charette. It’s a project that didn’t qualify, so it’s a project that didn’t receive the necessary environmental approvals and it’s a project that was simply abandoned by the developers. »