Sainte-Marthe file: The owner explains himself

Hello,
Following a press release issued by the Municipality of Sainte-Marthe and the publication of articles in the local media, it seems essential to send you certain details.
Unfortunately, the facts reported in these articles and the city’s claims contain several inaccuracies, in addition to omitting important information to fully understand the chronology of events.

So let’s reiterate the facts:

• Last fall, I bought some 95 hectares of agricultural land, in the municipality of Sainte-Marthe, in order to establish a farm and cultivate hay, garlic and grape vines. This is a retirement plan and a legacy that I want to leave to my children.
• As early as October, I commissioned a forest engineer to examine the land and assess what work would be needed to get to cultivate this agricultural land.
• At the end of October, this engineer proactively contacted the municipality of Sainte-Marthe, more precisely its Associate Director General, to inform them of our intentions to completely cut and clear the land, in addition to backfilling the part of the land where an old sand pit was located.
• In a response sent by email, the Associate Director General explicitly told us this: “No municipal permit is required to proceed with deforestation in this area. In addition, no permit is required to backfill land on less than 2 hectares.”
• At the same time, we have also taken the necessary steps to comply with the requirements of the Commission de la protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ). A resolution in support of these steps was even adopted by the Sainte-Marthe municipal council on January 12th, 2021. It was mentioned that our project does indeed comply with the urban planning by-laws.
• In good faith, we therefore began cutting and landscaping work last December, and continued it throughout the winter, in complete transparency with the municipality.
• However, by an unexpected turn of events, we learn that the city council adopted, in February 2021, two new regulations specifically aimed at preventing the work in question. These bylaws were tabled and adopted without debate, during a 20-minute videoconference session. We were never told about it, nor have we had the chance to make our point of views known on the subject. The minutes from the meetings in question do not include any outline of the reasons justifying the regulations.
• Last week, on the basis of these regulations adopted on the sly, the municipality of Sainte-Marthe ordered us, through a bailiff, to stop the work started more than five months ago.

Since legal proceedings have been initiated by the municipality of Sainte-Marthe, the rest of this case will be played out in court. We will therefore limit our comments. Once the evidence is presented in court, however, I am confident that the court will recognize our thoroughness in the process and that we have acted within our rights.

Given the media and political treatment of this story and the negative comments received in the last days on social networks, I nevertheless wanted to make this necessary clarification. I can understand that neighborhood residents and elected officials from Sainte-Marthe disagree with my project. However, there is a limit to twisting the facts and portraying ourselves as people who sway the laws in effect. I also believe that the threats and intimidation I have suffered in the past week have no place in 2021.

Since last fall, we have acted in good faith, in complete transparency with the competent authorities, in order to develop a project that could not be more legitimate: to clear private agricultural land in order to establish a farm.

I am proud of this project, which I intend to complete despite these unexpected pitfalls.

Pierre-Olivier Limoges, Owner
Jules-Édouard Farms