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.