Thoughtful About Food: Fw: [BCFSN] Quebec farming vs BC & appeal for support
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Allison Huttton
Apr 18, 2010, 10:19:54 PM4/18/10
to Thoughtful about food
----- Original Message -----
From: Abra
Brynne
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 1:54 PM
Subject: [BCFSN] Quebec farming vs BC & appeal for
support
as we work to rebuild thriving food systems across BC and Canada, I think that it is important to understand the contexts (social, environmental, economic etc) in which we do that work. My experience is that few of us outside of Quebec are aware of the degree to which one organization controls agricultural policy and programs in Quebec. For anyone who is interested, you will find the email below to be informative.
Note also that the Union Paysanne is asking for letters of support.
in good food,
Abra
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Karen Rothschild <jumen...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:40 PM
Subject: [gene-allies] appeal from Union paysanne please circulate widely as soon as possible
To: gene-allies <gene-...@lists.riseup.net>
Québec Farmers Need Your Support
Dear fellow members and friends of the Via Campesina:
The Union paysanne is requesting the support of your organisation in
its campaign for the right to freedom of association for Québec
farmers. The members of the Union paysanne are calling for an end to
the monopoly of union representation that is currently held by the
Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA). In a situation without parallel
in democratic countries, Québec farmers do not have the right to
choose the union that will represent them. In 1972, the Québec
government decided that only one union, namely the UPA, would have the
right to represent the farmers of Québec. Québec farmers are free to
form and to join other civil society organisations, but they are
obliged to pay dues to the UPA and in many cases to conform to its
rules.
The 1972 decision became the first step in a series of departures from
democratic practice. With the passage of time, the UPA has come to
control agricultural funding, the marketing of agricultural products,
the levying of charges on agricultural products, and decision-making
with regard to zoning and land use. Indeed, in recent years, the UPA’s
influence on the Ministry of Agriculture has become such that one
might even speak of a co-government of Québec agriculture, a state of
affairs that cannot continue.
This situation has left no room for alternative visions of agriculture
and rural development. The UPA pays lip service to food sovereignty,
but it refuses to take a stand against genetically modified organisms,
against agrofuels, or against the exploitation (by some of its
members) of seasonal farm workers. It has helped to bring into being
an agricultural landscape that is almost overwhelmingly dominated by
very large farms using industrial methods.
Faced with a crisis in agriculture, the Québec government set up, in
2007, a commission (which became known as the Pronovost Commission) to
study the future of agriculture and the food industry in the province.
In its year-long consultations, the Commission received hundreds of
submissions from organisations and listened to the comments of
thousands of individuals; it also initiated its own studies and
consulted with experts. In its final report published in 2008, the
Commission concluded that Québec agriculture was being stifled and
recommended the abolition of the UPA’s monopoly of union
representation. The Commission also recommended that on-farm sales be
excluded from the UPA’s control, so as to give a new lease of life to
local agriculture, specialized local products, and organic farms, as
well as to the development of otherwise disadvantaged regions.
Regrettably, the UPA launched a frontal attack in the Pronovost
Commission’s report, refusing to admit the need for reform and going
against a growing tide of public opinion.
More and more people in farming and food industry circles are
identifying the union monopoly as the source of many of the current
problems in Québec agriculture. Former Commissioner Pronovost has
recently spoken out. In response to a question regarding the fact
that a year and a half after the publication of the Commission’s
report the UPA’s monopoly still continues, he told a journalist from
the newspaper Le Soleil “ the passage of time has only strengthened my
conviction that it (the abolition of the monopoly) is the thing to
do.”
The reason why we are asking for your help at this particular moment
is that the Minister of Agriculture, Claude Béchard, has promised a
major overhaul of Québec’s agricultural laws which will take place in
early summer. Reforms that follow the general lines of the Pronovost
Commission’s report have already been made to existing agricultural
funding programmes, and there is every reason to believe that the
Minister will continue in the same vein. In fact he has said that even
the union monopoly is up for discussion. In the coming weeks, it is
therefore up to all of us to convince him that Québec’s agriculture
would be much better off if the monopoly were ended.
We are therefore asking your organisation to urge the Québec
government to respect the basic human right to freedom of association
and to give back to Québec farmers the power to choose their union
affiliation.
We have include a suggested model letter, but we would of course be
very pleased if you have the time to write a text of your own.
We are asking that all letters be sent to the Union paysanne, so that
we ourselves can deliver them in person to the Minister of Agriculture
and, in addition, give copies to the respective leaders of the
different political parties in Québec.
Please send your letters to Union paysanne
C.P. 515, Succ. Bureau Chef
Saint-Hyacinthe, Qc. J2S 7B8
Telephone 450 230 5046
pays...@unionpaysanne.com
We very much appreciate your support.
In solidarity,
Benoît Girouard
President
Union paysanne
Mr. Claude Béchard
Minister of Agriculture of Québec
Dear Sir:
We are writing to inform you of our support for the Union paysanne in
its call for an end to the union monopoly in Québec agriculture.
We find it difficult to understand why Québec has not granted its
farmers the basic democratic right to freedom of association. In both
society as a whole and in agriculture, diversity of outlook and
opinion has always been essential for progress and innovation, and we
are convinced that Québec agriculture has everything to gain if
farmers are permitted to choose the union that will represent them.
Indeed, the Commission on the Future of Québec Agriculture came to
just such a conclusion when it stated that “In a democratic society it
is difficult to justify the maintenance of a system that obliges a
group of people to join just one associative structure, a system
which, incidentally, provides no means of ascertaining if people wish
to join, or to continue to belong to, the association in question.
This situation is unhealthy and it is even harmful to the credibility
of the UPA.”
We believe that it is urgent that changes to this unacceptable
situation be part of the overhaul of Québec’s agricultural laws that
you have promised for the early summer. Having the freedom to choose
their union representation will permit Québec farmers to use their
knowledge and their experience to give a new lease of life to Québec
agriculture. The time has come to trust in the judgement and
innovative intelligence of Québec farmers, and, as a first step, to
allow them to judge who will best represent them.
Respectfully,
Signature
Title of person signing
Name of Organisation
Postal address
Telephone
e-mail
From: Karen Rothschild <jumen...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:40 PM
Subject: [gene-allies] appeal from Union paysanne please circulate widely as soon as possible
To: gene-allies <gene-...@lists.riseup.net>
Québec Farmers Need Your Support
Dear fellow members and friends of the Via Campesina:
The Union paysanne is requesting the support of your organisation in
its campaign for the right to freedom of association for Québec
farmers. The members of the Union paysanne are calling for an end to
the monopoly of union representation that is currently held by the
Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA). In a situation without parallel
in democratic countries, Québec farmers do not have the right to
choose the union that will represent them. In 1972, the Québec
government decided that only one union, namely the UPA, would have the
right to represent the farmers of Québec. Québec farmers are free to
form and to join other civil society organisations, but they are
obliged to pay dues to the UPA and in many cases to conform to its
rules.
The 1972 decision became the first step in a series of departures from
democratic practice. With the passage of time, the UPA has come to
control agricultural funding, the marketing of agricultural products,
the levying of charges on agricultural products, and decision-making
with regard to zoning and land use. Indeed, in recent years, the UPA’s
influence on the Ministry of Agriculture has become such that one
might even speak of a co-government of Québec agriculture, a state of
affairs that cannot continue.
This situation has left no room for alternative visions of agriculture
and rural development. The UPA pays lip service to food sovereignty,
but it refuses to take a stand against genetically modified organisms,
against agrofuels, or against the exploitation (by some of its
members) of seasonal farm workers. It has helped to bring into being
an agricultural landscape that is almost overwhelmingly dominated by
very large farms using industrial methods.
Faced with a crisis in agriculture, the Québec government set up, in
2007, a commission (which became known as the Pronovost Commission) to
study the future of agriculture and the food industry in the province.
In its year-long consultations, the Commission received hundreds of
submissions from organisations and listened to the comments of
thousands of individuals; it also initiated its own studies and
consulted with experts. In its final report published in 2008, the
Commission concluded that Québec agriculture was being stifled and
recommended the abolition of the UPA’s monopoly of union
representation. The Commission also recommended that on-farm sales be
excluded from the UPA’s control, so as to give a new lease of life to
local agriculture, specialized local products, and organic farms, as
well as to the development of otherwise disadvantaged regions.
Regrettably, the UPA launched a frontal attack in the Pronovost
Commission’s report, refusing to admit the need for reform and going
against a growing tide of public opinion.
More and more people in farming and food industry circles are
identifying the union monopoly as the source of many of the current
problems in Québec agriculture. Former Commissioner Pronovost has
recently spoken out. In response to a question regarding the fact
that a year and a half after the publication of the Commission’s
report the UPA’s monopoly still continues, he told a journalist from
the newspaper Le Soleil “ the passage of time has only strengthened my
conviction that it (the abolition of the monopoly) is the thing to
do.”
The reason why we are asking for your help at this particular moment
is that the Minister of Agriculture, Claude Béchard, has promised a
major overhaul of Québec’s agricultural laws which will take place in
early summer. Reforms that follow the general lines of the Pronovost
Commission’s report have already been made to existing agricultural
funding programmes, and there is every reason to believe that the
Minister will continue in the same vein. In fact he has said that even
the union monopoly is up for discussion. In the coming weeks, it is
therefore up to all of us to convince him that Québec’s agriculture
would be much better off if the monopoly were ended.
We are therefore asking your organisation to urge the Québec
government to respect the basic human right to freedom of association
and to give back to Québec farmers the power to choose their union
affiliation.
We have include a suggested model letter, but we would of course be
very pleased if you have the time to write a text of your own.
We are asking that all letters be sent to the Union paysanne, so that
we ourselves can deliver them in person to the Minister of Agriculture
and, in addition, give copies to the respective leaders of the
different political parties in Québec.
Please send your letters to Union paysanne
C.P. 515, Succ. Bureau Chef
Saint-Hyacinthe, Qc. J2S 7B8
Telephone 450 230 5046
pays...@unionpaysanne.com
We very much appreciate your support.
In solidarity,
Benoît Girouard
President
Union paysanne
Mr. Claude Béchard
Minister of Agriculture of Québec
Dear Sir:
We are writing to inform you of our support for the Union paysanne in
its call for an end to the union monopoly in Québec agriculture.
We find it difficult to understand why Québec has not granted its
farmers the basic democratic right to freedom of association. In both
society as a whole and in agriculture, diversity of outlook and
opinion has always been essential for progress and innovation, and we
are convinced that Québec agriculture has everything to gain if
farmers are permitted to choose the union that will represent them.
Indeed, the Commission on the Future of Québec Agriculture came to
just such a conclusion when it stated that “In a democratic society it
is difficult to justify the maintenance of a system that obliges a
group of people to join just one associative structure, a system
which, incidentally, provides no means of ascertaining if people wish
to join, or to continue to belong to, the association in question.
This situation is unhealthy and it is even harmful to the credibility
of the UPA.”
We believe that it is urgent that changes to this unacceptable
situation be part of the overhaul of Québec’s agricultural laws that
you have promised for the early summer. Having the freedom to choose
their union representation will permit Québec farmers to use their
knowledge and their experience to give a new lease of life to Québec
agriculture. The time has come to trust in the judgement and
innovative intelligence of Québec farmers, and, as a first step, to
allow them to judge who will best represent them.
Respectfully,
Signature
Title of person signing
Name of Organisation
Postal address
Telephone
_______________________________________________
This is the public mailing list of the BC Food Systems Network
Our email address: fo...@bcfsn.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings: http://bcfsn.org/mailman/listinfo/food_bcfsn.org
To contact the list administrator, email food-...@bcfsn.org
...............................................................................................................
You are subscribed to "Thoughtful About Food" Google Group
VISIT ONLINE:
.......... http://groups.google.com/group/thoughtfulaboutfood
TO POST - SEND AN EMAIL TO:
......... thoughtfu...@googlegroups.com
TO UNSUBSCRIBE - SEND AN EMAIL TO:
.......... thoughtfulabout...@googlegroups.com
This group is unmoderated - each author is responsible for their content.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages