Three cars of the SQ to enter their maple syrup

Photo courtesy
The syrup producers Daniel Gaudreau and Nathalie Bombardier, in the background the sugar bush located in the eastern Townships.

Marie-Eve Dumont

Thursday, 25 January 2018 21:17

UPDATE
Thursday, 25 January 2018 21:17

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A couple of maple syrup producers in the eastern Townships, which is made to enter its maple syrup under the supervision of the police, on Thursday, promised to fight for the right to sell as many as he wants at the grocery store or convenience store.

Daniel Gaudreau and his wife Nathalie Bombardier refused to comply with the obligation to sell their surplus production through the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec.

The couple wants to sell all its syrup directly to businesses in its region, and even across the province, or in Ontario.

“Three cars of the SQ are landed at us as if we were a factory of heroin. They took all of our maple syrup, our livelihood, ” laments Ms. Bombardier, including the sugar maple is located in Scotstown, in Estrie.

His spouse and contest the seizures, the different ways of doing the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec and the regulations in place. They believe that the producers should choose if they wish to join the Federation, or if they prefer to do it alone.

“We are entrepreneurs and we are in an open market, it has no sense of preventing us from selling. The United States, Ontario, New Brunswick can buy and sell the syrup as they want while we are restricted, ” says Ms. Bombardier, which plans to change the laws.

Syrup hidden

The syrup removed Thursday had already been seized by the Federation last year. It had been agreed that the couple would keep in his possession the time that the cause be heard before the board.

“Seizure before judgment, it is in fact about a dozen per year, and the producers remain the guardians of the product and it is going well. This time, the bailiff noticed that the number of barrels has increased, as if some of them would have been hidden when the first seizure last year. We doubt the reliability of producers, the trust is broken, ” says Simon Trépanier, director-general of the Federation of Quebec maple syrup producers.

That is why the Federation has decided to request that the barrels be sent to its warehouses during the proceedings.

Quota to meet

This is not the first time that the couple Gaudreau-Bombardier is entering its maple syrup. He was sentenced last year to pay 321 000 $ for having sold the syrup without quota between 2010 and 2014.

Producers in Quebec are assigned a certain number of taps to collect the syrup. They, therefore, have a specified quantity for wholesale and intermediaries (grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants). The surplus must go to one of the 60 purchasers authorized by the Federation, who sell and export the product.

The producer, however, has the right to offer directly to the consumer the full amount of syrup he wants in a small format.