I was at the same meeting in Toronto as the Vice President, CEO of the FCMQ on the weekend. We had a chance to discuss some of the trail closure problems in the province of Quebec. He told me that he felt very optimistic about the trail issues with the farmers, there were several meetings set up in the next couple of weeks and felt it could be resolved with a positive outcome by the end of November. There is a lot of politics behind the farm land contraversy. The issue over Trail 23 coming from the Lac St Jean region southward, is with a club having financial struggles and he felt it would be resolved. Trail 3 in the Tadoussac region was badly damaged by a heavy rain, washing out some sections of trail and several bridges. He was not quite so sure what would happen here, but thought the locals might find some alternative routes for this season until the bridges and trails could be rebuilt.

Quebec Addict

Thanks for the info from the FCMQ VP's perspective. I surely do hope the local clubs can get the TQ3 issue resolved. As you well know, there are not a lot of interconectivity alternatives to TQ 3, twixt Tadoussac and Godbout.

Let's hope for the best, eh? I've got a Gaspesie/Cote Nord trip planned for 2nd week of January; at the time that all good snowmobilers, everywhere, celebrate the life of the Patron Saint of US sledders: the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King.

timbo

I wouldn't see Raymond Lefebvre not being optimistic....This guy is doing a lot for snowmobilers in Quebec.......I hope you can read french cause farmers are not necessarily thinking the same way as the vice-président unfortunately.

http://www.hebdosquebecor.com/plo/11062005...062005_A2.shtml

Nope, I tried can't read french. :smilielol: Hopefully between them and the provincial goverment the problem can be solved before sledding starts. He wasn't sure how much trail was damaged by the rain around Tadoussac, can you shed any light on that??

The UPA hardens the tone By Alain Couillard Bay-tree-station - Following meetings held between various regional federations, last week, the farmers harden the tone in front of the government of Quebec which, according to them, makes the deaf person ear vis-a-vis with their request concerning the refunding of municipal taxes. The president of the UPA Lotbinière-Mégantic, Maurice Vigneault, is formal, if Quebec does not manage to regulate the problem of refunding of taxes, the season of motoneige and of VTT will be severely disturbed in the paths of Quebec. There are about fifteen days, the Union of the agricultural producers of Quebec announced that the areas of Lotbinière-Mégantic, Lévis-Bellechasse and Bank-North came to join the provincial movement, aiming at prohibiting, this winter, the access to the arable lands with the amateurs of motoneige and VTT. On average, Quebec refunds with the producers 72% of the total of the taxes poured with the municipalities. According to the president of the UPA Lotbinière-Mégantic, the government trails the feet and puts from 7 to 9 months to refund the sums due. Tax formula By using the formula of the 150$ of gross income per hectare, considerable owners are not eligible with this refunding of taxes. "It is a nonsense" affirms Mr. Vigneault curtly. To correct this problem, Quebec modified these last weeks its calculation by adopting the rule of the 8$ of income by 100$ of evaluation. "By correcting a situation, one created of it another since the producers who have large ground surfaces, whose value has sometimes triplet or even quadrupled, cannot reach this scale of incomes" underlined Mr. Vigneault. The wick burns last June, the Minister for the municipal Businesses and of the Areas, Nathalie Normandeau, the establishment of a committee of work had announced to untie the dead end with the agricultural producers concerning the municipal agricultural taxation. October 26, a working group, under the presidency of the agronomist Jean-Claude Dufour, had as a mandate to work out a long-term solution vis-a-vis with the problems of the agricultural municipal taxation. The committee in question has until November 23 to present his report/ratio with the Normandeau minister, that is to say very right before the annual congress of the UPA envisaged in Quebec, November the 29 and 30, first and December two. If Quebec is not able to get along with the UPA, the next season of motoneige and VTT, will be disturbed to undoubtedly conclude Maurice Vigneault.