(Quebec) For the past week, farmers on the South Shore have said they have received visits from real estate agents who wish to buy and develop their land in preparation for the arrival of a third Quebec-Lévis highway link.
“I call them vultures,” confides in an interview the president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) of Chaudière-Appalaches, James Allen, who fears the acceleration of urban sprawl and the loss of excellent agricultural land. .
For him, the resurrection of the third motorway link project to the east, near Île d’Orléans, is a “surprise” which – once again – raises significant concerns among its members.
Moreover, the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, did not provide farmers with any notice.
“Quebec cannot afford to lose any more agricultural land, cultivable land,” he insisted.
The interventions of the Ministry of Agriculture are insufficient to ensure the protection and development of agricultural territory, she notably underlined in her report.
According to Mr. Allen, if it wants to build a third link to the east, the Legault government must at least create a trust to preserve the agricultural vocation of land on the South Shore, as has already been done in Montreal.
