D15 – Before members the Union des producteurs agricoles’ General Council, the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Philippe Couillard, reiterated his intention to preserve Quebec’s family farm model by defending supply management and by ensuring that successors in the agricultural sector have all they need to take up the torch.
In a second mandate, a QLP government is committed to:
- Continuing to defend supply management within the framework of negotiations for international agreements to protect our family farm model;
- Revising the Financière agricole’s programs so that they take better account of natural disasters.
- Better supporting agricultural succession:
- Limit the purchase of agricultural lands by investment funds to 100 hectares per year, putting a halt to speculation;
- Maximize agricultural successors’ eligibility for government funds thanks to a revision of all of these funds.
- Modernize the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities to make it simpler and more effective
- Finalizing, in partnership with municipal and agricultural stakeholders, the development of a new agricultural property tax credit program; this will occur in the first year of the next mandate. To do so, the work that has already begun will resume immediately after the next Minister of Agriculture is appointed. Until the new program is implemented, a sum of $20M will be earmarked as compensation for agricultural producers.
To these commitments, we add the implementation of the Politique bioalimentaire which was unveiled last April.
Present in all of Quebec’s regions, agriculture drives and occupies our territory. It stimulates and diversifies our regions’ economies. The attention dedicated to this industry is quite particular given the effort and energy deployed by agricultural stakeholders who work every day to feed Quebec’s population.