Quebec’s agricultural territory is at risk, and offenders continue to cause damage with impunity, a new report claims.
Sustainable Development Commissioner Janique Lambert presented her annual report on Thursday, focusing on agricultural practices and land protection.
She noted that the Commission de protection agricole du Québec (CPTAQ) provided “insufficient and ineffective” surveillance of the agricultural zone, which was based almost exclusively on the infractions it received.
That means “CPTAQ is unable to detect infractions that are not reported to it.”
The commission is also “dependent on the ability of citizens and municipalities to detect infractions,” Lambert pointed out in her report.
However, some offences have “disastrous” consequences for farmland, warned the Commissioner.
“In Mirabel, thousands of tonnes of waste were buried under farmland, while a former sand pit in Sainte-Marie-Salomé was illegally backfilled with potentially contaminated material,” she wrote.
In addition, “denunciations rarely make it possible to limit damage to …