Local Journalism Initiative

Brenda O’Farrell
The Advocate

In an exhaustive and highly critical report unveiled last month, Quebec’s commissioner for sustainable development offered a scathing review of both the province’s Agriculture Ministry and Quebec’s farmland protection agency, taking aim at how both are failing to efficiently promote soil heath and effectively protect Quebec’s food-producing land.

“MAPAQ’s interventions are insufficient to ensure the protection and development of Quebec’s agricultural territory, while issues, including the loss of cultivated areas, threaten its sustainability,” wrote sustainable development commissioner Janique Lambert in her 188-page report submitted to the National Assembly on April 25.

Lambert said the mechanisms put in place by Quebec’s Agriculture Ministry “are not sufficient and lack efficiency,” explaining that it is banking on its sustainable agriculture plan, the so-called Plan d’agriculture durable 2020-2030, to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices, “but the implementation of the plan relies particularly on the commitments of numerous partners to support and train producers.”

This approach, the commissioner says, “will take time to see results.”

She then goes further, saying: “The ministry does not have the necessary data concerning the state of soil health, its evolution as well as current agricultural practices to better establish priorities.”

The commissioner also highlighted that the Financière Agricole du Québec’s programs are “insufficient to accelerate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices to promote soil health and conservation.”

Lambert did not hold back either when she set her sights on the provincial farmland protection agency, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec.

“The surveillance activities carried out by the CPTAQ do not make it possible to effectively protect the agricultural zone,” she wrote. “Surveillance is insufficient to detect the offences committed and long delays are observed in the processing of the offenses identified.”

Lambert said MAPAQ has been aware of the CPTAQ’s shortcomings to adequately protect farmland in certain instances for several years. She added, the goals outlined in its bio-food policy, La Politique bioalimentaire 2018-2025, fails to addresses these failures “and it rarely uses its aid programs to encourage enhancing the value of this land.”

The CPTAQ was also criticized for failing “to use all the means at its disposal” to ensure the laws surrounding protecting farmland are respected.

Farmland is a limited and non-renewable resource, Lambert stated, that is essential for ensure Quebecers’ food autonomy.

The mandate of the Sustainable Development Commissioner is to audit the performance of all agencies that are subject to the Sustainable Development Act. Her report is part the Auditor General of Quebec’s report to the National Assembly for 2023-2024.

Brenda O’Farrell
The Advocate

Seventeen demonstrations over two months in all regions of the province involving an estimated 4,500 participants.

That is how Quebec’s farmers’ union quantifies the public protests that saw convoys of tractors take to the streets in urban centres throughout April and the beginning of May to draw attention to the growing list of issues that threaten the financial viability of agricultural producers.

The question now is: What’s next?

So far, the Union des producteurs agricoles is far from impressed with the provincial government’s reaction to the calls it has made at the demonstrations for immediate and sustained help to manage and mitigate the financial pressures farmers are facing.

From high interest rates, to increasing fuel and fertilizer costs, severe weather events triggered by climate change that range from periods of drought to heavy rains and windstorms to the increasing bureaucratic burden being imposed on agricultural producers by expanding environmental regulations and reporting requirements, farmers are being hampered and hurt.

And the economic reality is making it increasingly difficult for the next generation of agricultural producers to take over operations.

“The government’s response and will to consider the proposals put forward to date are clearly insufficient,” said UPA president Martin Caron in a letter sent to Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne on May 9.

In the National Assembly, Liberal agriculture critic André Fortin took up the farmers’ cause, pushing the CAQ government to act.

In a statement, Fortin said: “This is a real crisis. Imagine the farmers who lost 100 per cent of their 2023 harvest and are only offered 15-per-cent compensation. It becomes impossible for them to launch the new season while continuing to make the investments necessary for their production.

“It’s simple,” Fortin continued, “under current conditions, La Financière agricole is not fulfilling its mandate. Despite this, the minister does not seem interested in reviewing the programs.

“Is this willful blindness or bad faith?”

The UPA is hosting a provincial meeting with all its affiliate federations and groups May 23 in Quebec City to provide an updated overview of the financial situation farmers in the province currently face and to discuss next steps in its ongoing campaign to pressure the government to help alleviate the financial strain in the sector.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The Advocate

The legacy of Thomas Bassett Macaulay has many chapters.

He was a pioneer in the insurance industry, securing his first job at the age of 17 with the Sun Life Assurance Company. He would go on to become president, credited with transforming Sun Life into one of Canada’s largest firms with a reach that extended across continents. But it was his role that began as a gentleman farmer that would forever change the dairy industry in Canada and around the world.

And for that claim to fame, achieved in the last 18 years of his life in Hudson, Que., he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1961, 19 years after his death.

How it started

But, according to reported accounts, Macaulay turned his attention to livestock only after discovering that the fields he had purchased in Hudson in the early 1900s were too sandy to be productive cropland.

It is that decision that set him on a course that would influence the dairy industry throughout Canada, the U.S. and the world – and all from the picturesque patch of ground that offered a stunning elevated view of the Lake of Two Mountains.

It was in 1924, when Macaulay at the age of 66, purchased his first cow, a Holstein, for a reported $900. During the next 18 years he set to the task of refining the pedigree of the breed.

An actuary by profession, he applied the same principles that went into compiling and analyzing statistics to calculate the risks and probabilities relied on by insurance companies to breeding a herd of dairy cows that would produce the most and best quality milk.

Edward Morwick, a criminal lawyer and philanthropist turned cattleman and self-published author who wrote several books on cattle breeding, assessed Macaulay’s research:

“It is essentially a mathematical process and a discipline in which an actuary’s training would stand him in good stead,” he wrote, referring to Macaulay. “Through the lessons learned as an actuary, which were cross-applied to the study of genetics, Macaulay became convinced of his ability to develop a strain of Holstein cattle pure for sound type, good udders and four per cent test.”

Macaulay identified the traits he wanted and researched how to obtain what he needed. This lead him to purchase six cows, which became known as the “Big Six,” and what became known as his main sire, Johanna Rag Apple Pabst. This bull, dubbed “The One” and often referred to as “Old Joe,” was purchased for $15,000 and became the foundation of his breeding line. Together, these Holsteins became known as Macaulay’s Rag Apple bloodline, which produced the highest calibre dairy cows in both quality and quantity of milk. The genetics that sprang from this herd at Mount Victoria Farms can still be traced through to just about every Holstein cow in the world today.

According to records, “Old Joe” was born on Jan. 24, 1921, in Hartford, Wisconsin, and arrived in Hudson by train. By the time of his death in 1933, he had produced 51 daughters and 44 sons, who, in turn, produced most of the existing pure-bred Holstein herds in the world today.

In addition to being inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1961, in a testament to the enduring significance of his legacy in the sector, Macaulay was inducted into the Temple de la renommée de l’agriculture du Québec, the provincial agricultural hall of fame, in 1992 – 50 years after his death.

Macaulay was also honoured as a Pioneer in the Dairy Shrine Club, a U.S.-based association that recognizes those who have contributed to the dairy industry in North America.

Shortly after Macaulay’s death in April 1942, his herd was auctioned off. The 84-page catalogue for the auction held on Monday, June 29, 1942, has become collector’s items.

The Macaulay farm would itself by bought by John Norris, who continued to raise cattle on the land for a time under a new name, Norfolk Farm.

The farmland has since been sold off, redeveloped into residential housing. Part of the farm today is a golf course, while another section is an upscale neighbourhood known for its large homes with grand entrances and pavi-uni driveways.

In 2013, despite efforts by members of the Hudson Historical Society, the barns of the original Mount Victoria Farm, which by this time had deteriorated, were torn down.

But his legacy and contributions to the world of dairy cattle genetics still faintly echo in the community where they were made, acknowledged with a few street names, like Mount Victoria, Macaulay and Rag Apple.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The Advocate

In the world of home decor and design, fashions come and go. In many ways, they evolve.

The origins of some modern home style elements can be linked to early whispered trends in colour and texture, while others emerge from the latest innovations in technology and function.

Rarely, though, can a distinctive decor motif trace its origin back to one man’s legacy that is described as global in scope and unmatched in science by a source as unlikely as the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame.

That’s right.

Call it the shades of Holstein heredity, the machinations of Macaulay ingenuity or simply vintage Victoria Farm. But the art that adorns a recently completed house in Hudson, a little town off the western tip of Montreal, offers an inspired and unique nod to the historical and distinctively local legacy of a farming heritage that has spread throughout the world.

“I really wanted to make sure that when they see the house, you know the history of that land,” said designer Samantha Vince, who took on the challenge of giving this new house its unique flare.

That house is a two-storey structure described as “a modern farmhouse” that was completed earlier this year by a couple who had up until recently lived in neighbouring St. Lazare. It is built on land that was once part of the farm owned by Thomas B. Macaulay.

A site with farming history

Back in early 1900s, Macaulay bought the 200-acre property that had a magnificent view of Mount Victoria. He christened it Mount Victoria Farm. It is from this location that Macaulay, who had made a name for himself as an actuary and then president of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, made his mark in the agricultural world.

More specifically, it was on this modest farm that featured iconic red wooden barns with grey metals roofs and twin silos built in the 1920s, that Macaulay applied his training as an actuary to the science of genetics, creating a prize-winning herd of Holstein dairy cattle that was so unparalleled that it has been recognized as “the origin of all Holsteins on the planet” today, according to dairy experts.

“With his actuary training, (Macaulay) applied his mathematical theories to genetic selection, in order to develop a purebred Holstein line with a much sought-after morphology, excellent mammary systems and fat ratings of 4 per cent,” Macaulay’s biography in the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame states.

The house, which has a traditional rural-setting rear wrap-around porch, has many stunning features, including impressive 18-foot ceilings, a large fireplace and many modern touches. But it is the art that adorns the walls throughout the home that reflects the history of the site on which it stands.

Cow art

Among the most eye-catching is the commissioned original painting of a single Holstein cow by Coteau du Lac artist Carole Lessard that hangs at the top of the stairs.

Affectionately referred to as Delores, this black-and-white Holstein cow has a slightly whimsical flare that commands attention as she looks out from a stretched canvas that measures four feet wide. Adding a touch of the personal, the date of the homeowners’ wedding anniversary provides the number featured in the cow’s ear tag.

In the dining room, another original painting features the image of the iconic Victoria Farm barns, which were torn down in 2013. The large work by St. Lazare-based artist Allison Robin Smith draws the eye, allowing the space to open an artful window onto the past.

The painting of the barns, with their crimson walls and white trimmed windows, that more than a decade earlier were the focus of heated public discussion in Hudson, where some residents attempted in vain to preserve the by-then neglected farm buildings from being torn down, casts the viewer back to a much earlier time, when the buildings stood proud, yet understated within a field of green.

And throughout the house, in a variety of locations, are framed vintage photographs of Hudson, which Vince selected from the archives kept by a local photographer. The prints, selected from among hundreds of images, showcase views of the original Macaulay farm in all seasons before the barns were demolished and the land subdivided. Included in the collection are photographs of the town’s principle thoroughfare, Main Road, the local train station and kids in canoes on the Lake of Two Mountains.

The effect gives this new home a warmth and charm that is not only elegant in look, but respectful of the place it looks out onto – a little patch of land that lays claim to a fabled piece of Canadian agricultural history that continues to stand unparalleled to this day.

Cutline:

As a nod to heritage of Victoria Farms being the place where all Holstein cattle can trace their lineage back to, this painting by Coteau du Lac artist Carole Lessard has a slightly whimsical flare that commands attention. Adding a touch of the personal, the date of the homeowners’ wedding anniversary provides the number featured in the cow’s ear tag.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

An official with the Quebec Municipal Affairs Department is currently scheduling meetings for later this month with members of Pointe Claire city council to discuss next steps in the wake of council’s approval of a resolution seeking help from the provincial ministry to restore order in the municipality last month.

Yet, it is still not known how long and what will result of the intervention, according to members of council.

“I don’t know where this will lead,” councillor Bruno Tremblay said last Friday.

Tremblay is the only councillor, along with Mayor Tim Thomas, who voted against the resolution at a special meeting on April 16.

On Monday, a spokesperson with the Municipal Affairs office in Montreal refused to comment when contacted by The 1510 West, while questions submitted to the ministry have gone unanswered.

However, one motivation for the resolution that has been driving seven councillors who voted in favour of the move is coming into clearer focus – their frustration with the mayor.

Although the wording of the resolution adopted last month states that deterioration of the climate at city hall cannot be attributed to “a single person, nor a group of elected officials,” councillors have since made it clear they blame Thomas.

“The problem is our mayor, plain and simple,” said councillor Eric Stork in an interview with The 1510 West. “Everybody is done,” he said in frustration.

“The mayor doesn’t know how to be a mayor,” said councillor Brent Cowan in a separate interview. “He only knows how to be against things.”

During the special meeting April 16 councillor Cynthia Homan, who also voted in favour of the resolution, pointed to a “lack of leadership” when answering a resident’s question on the need for the resolution.

Thomas, however, is pushing back.

“If I hold blame, it’s because I’ve defended what my supporters elected me to do,” Thomas said in an interview with The 1510 West on Monday, which was to slow down development to give the city time to revise its planning bylaws, a process that continues since a development freeze was imposed in 2022.

When questioned about his obligation to represent the interests of all residents, including those who did not vote for him in the last election, he added: “So you have to compromise, which I am willing to do.”

But finding compromise has been elusive.

According to Tremblay, one of the reasons for the lack of agreement is that it is not clear what the majority of council is pushing for, except undermining the mayor in the eyes of the public.

“Having lived in this environment for more than two years, I simply can’t believe this resolution’s being tabled for the sake of peace, love and understanding,” Tremblay said in explaining his opposition to the resolution at the April 16 meeting. “This is brute force given the sequence of events that I’ve witnessed and seen in the past. It’s a cannon shot to end political opposition and affect the 2025 election.”

In an interview last week he elaborated: “I was getting tired of these kind of moves – every few weeks, every few months,” he said, referring to a list of events that have punctuated public discussion, including members of council publicly rebuking former councillor Erin Tedford before she resigned in early 2023, councillors walking out of public meetings, calls for the mayor’s resignation and what he has described as “non-stop chirping on Facebook.”

“All of these things have come in a sequence,” Tremblay said. “I see this as an extension of this continuum,” he added, pointing to the call for Municipal Affairs to intervene, which he described as “a political manoeuvre hiding behind a ‘let’s be friends gesture.’”

Tremblay added that the majority of council has the votes to do what it wants on council. “They could take anything out of the RCI,” he said, referring the development freeze. “They didn’t have to vote for it.”

When questioned about the climate of political discord, he said there were a variety of options to seek dialogue other than asking the provincial government to intervene and create uncertainty. But none of his council colleagues ever reached out to him to discuss the topic.

“I see this whole thing as a political move to make sure Tim Thomas is crippled for the next election,” he said.

To the councillors who oppose the mayor he said: “They don’t stand for anything. They are too busy electioneering.”

As for Stork, he claims one of the biggest issues that needs to be addressed is how council meetings are conducted, pointing to the mayor, as chair of the meeting, allowing residents to criticize and, what he claims, “insinuate things.”

“It’s turned into a charade,” Stork said, referring to public meetings.

Stork admits he has spoken to officials with Municipal Affairs on several occasions, and claims the city’s administration is not receiving guidance from council, a function, he claims, should be handled by the mayor.

“Hopefully, this will all come out,” he said, referring to the report that he anticipates will result from Municipal Affairs’ intervention.

Cowan echoed the complaints levelled at the mayor, saying the city lacks what he called “senior high-level decision-making,” and said question period during public council meetings “has turned into a complete cockup.”

“It’s not supposed to be a debate,” he added.