The Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean believes that a new route less damaging to agricultural land should be studied for the four-lane divided extension of Route 170 in Saint-Bruno.
In the eyes of the regional president of the UPA, Mario Théberge, none of the three corridors analyzed by the Ministère des Transports (MTQ) to complete the road link between Alma and La Baie is suitable.
The organization is currently considering a route scenario further north, which would pass almost entirely through the forest.
Mario Théberge believes that the southern route of the MTQ would lead to a loss of agricultural land, which would be landlocked between Saint-Bruno and the future road.
How do you want the farmer to be comfortable going to cultivate the remaining 200 meters, which is as if lost. Crossing four lanes with agricultural machinery is almost risky, he lamented. What happens is that the municipality will say: “The piece of land that is landlocked between the road and the village, we will buy it from you.” This is how municipalities expand their perimeter.»
Mario Théberge mentions that similar situations occurred during the construction of Autoroute 70 in Jonquière.
It is the southern route that had once been the subject of a consensus in Lac-Saint-Jean. The initial idea was then to join the existing route 170 towards Roberval.
© Quebec Ministry of Transport
The Ministère des Transports is studying three new corridors in the road link project between Alma and La Baie, in addition to simply repairing routes 169 and 170.
As for the central corridor, presented to the citizens of Saint-Bruno by the MTQ during a public consultation in November, the UPA considers that it affects agricultural land too much.
Of course, for the Department of Transport, this is the most economical option. But we others, the budgets of the Ministry of Transport, that does not concern us. It’s not our problems, he said. We have them, our financial problems, with our production costs.»
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The new central corridor presented by the MTQ in the fall would run along Range 5 to join Route 169, south of the proposed northern route. The northern corridor, which touches a residential area, had aroused the concern of citizens, since it could lead to several expropriations.
Be consulted at every stage
Mario Théberge wants his organization to be consulted at each stage of the project. He does not believe that the elected officials who sit on the MTQ monitoring committee are well placed to represent agricultural producers.
It hits us on our convictions, that these people are going to do it the same way we do it. They have their interests, they have their advantages, we have our constraints which are not the same. It’s not even reconcilable“, he believes.
The mayoress of Alma, Sylvie Beaumont, the mayor of Saint-Bruno, François Claveau, as well as the CAQ MP for Lac-Saint-Jean, Éric Girard, are among the members of the follow-up committee.
© / Radio-Canada
The president of the Union of agricultural producers of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Mario Théberge
That’s why we told them [le MTQ], saying that all the projects, the project, each time there is a stage, we want to be consulted. They haven’t said publicly that they’re okay with it. But they will have no choice. Because the rest of us is that if we go out, they will find us on their way“, launched Mario Théberge.
At the time of the second consultation held online on Wednesday, this time for citizens who do not live in Saint-Bruno, participants had deplored the absence of the UPA in the project monitoring committee. A route had also been proposed by citizens.
Dany Hubert, director general of major road projects in northern and eastern Quebec at the MTQ, said Wednesday that agricultural issues are regularly brought to the table by elected officials. He also recalled that once the route has been established, the road only takes a maximum width of about 90 meters and not the few hundred meters of the corridors shown in the tables.
Mario Théberge also deplored that his organization was not invited to the first public consultation in November.
The corridor chosen by the MTQ will be presented when the environmental impact study is submitted next fall. It will then be possible for the file to be transferred to sessions of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE).
Work should begin within five years. The first section carried out in Chicoutimi began in 1981.
With information from Laurie Gobeil