The Quebec government is moving toward permanently banning various types of agricultural land deals in a bid to prevent real estate developers from transforming farmlands into commercial or residential properties.
The new restrictions, which have already taken effect in the form of amendments to an existing law, serve to prohibit investment funds from purchasing farmland and ban individuals who aren't farm operators from acquiring agricultural properties within 1,000 metres of urban perimeters. Next up is for these rules to be enshrined into law, with the provincial assembly in Quebec City widely expected to pass Bill 86 introduced by the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec.
The measure would create a registry of agricultural land transactions, with fines for those deemed guilty of breaking the rules. The new system would also put an expiration date on existing nonagricultural-use development permissions and would ban the building of a second residence, greenhouse or production facility on various categories of farm property.
Like Quebec, several Canadian provinces have grappled with setting a balance between maintaining agricultural land and green space and allowing real estate development to expand with the growing population.
Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne told the National Assembly of Quebec that authorities consulted 500 interested parties prior to writing the regulations governing the sale of farmland, adding that there was a “grand consensus” to enact the largest reform of agriculture land use rules since 1978.
Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta — areas that contain more fertile growing conditions than the rocky soil of Quebec’s Canadian Shield — each faced the same issue.
Classifying green space
Exactly how to preserve farmland and green space became a hot potato in November 2022 for Ontario Premier Doug Ford when he removed 7,400 acres of land from a designated area known as the greenbelt, land designed to prevent urban sprawl around Toronto. Ford later canceled the plan after multiple groups pleaded for its reversal.
Alberta, Canada’s fastest-growing province by population, has also seen a decline in its total amount of agricultural land. Some 23,000 hectares were removed from the farmland category between 2011 and 2022, according to government data.
Authorities in British Columbia classified approximately 5% of its land base under the agricultural category in 1973, and the territory continues “to encourage farming and ranching and to focus non-farm use to the remaining 95% of the province,” according to government documentation.
However, not all voices are praising the measure. The Montreal Economic Institute, or MEI, has campaigned to allow for the building of more homes on agricultural land in the province, noting that increased residential development would help ease the housing crisis in Quebec, where apartment vacancies have declined to as low as 0% in some places.
"For a long time, Quebec maintained housing affordability by allowing formerly agricultural land to be turned into housing for local families," Gabriel Giguère, senior policy analyst at MEI, wrote in an email to CoStar News. "Now that we're in the midst of a housing shortage, further preventing agricultural land from contributing to increased supply is akin to shooting ourselves in the foot."
MEI released figures last August stating that Quebec's provincial government made real estate development illegal on a total of 50 square kilometres in Quebec between 2020 and 2023, while only allowing 7.4 square kilometres to be used for commercial purposes. The group said that in the case of the city of Laval, 181,000 more people could find homes if the 30% of the island, now zoned agricultural, were allowed to be used for homes.
However Quebec’s largest farmers association, the Union des producteurs agricoles, has applauded Bill 86. The group noted that Quebec's ratio of 0.24 hectares of farmland per resident is significantly lower than other provinces such as Alberta, with a rate 15 times higher. The group said that a total of 57,513 hectares of agricultural land was repurposed between 1988 and 2022.
"The sustainability and development of agricultural land and activities remain seriously threatened, and protecting our food supply is essential to the food future of Quebecers, as the Sustainable Development Commissioner pointed out in his report last April," union leader Martin Caron said in a statement.