Monday, December 11, 1944. The Great Snowstorm of 1944.

The Great Snowstorm of 1944 set in, impacting  northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, upstate New York, southern Ontario and southern Quebec.

Scene from Toronto..

The British 8th Army crossed the Lamone.

The Soviets heavily bombard Budapest.

The US 7th Army entered Haguenau.   The Germans unsuccessfully attacked 3d Army bridgeheads over the Saar.

The Germans completed the murder of the inmates of the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre.

British reinforcements reach Athens to combat some 25,000 ELAS troops.

The USS Reid was sunk off of Leyte by a kamikaze.

Kia (기아), then Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業), was founded in Seoul, which of course was occupied as part of the Japanese Empire.

Last edition:

Sunday, December 10, 1944. Hall of Fame.

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940, 1944, baseball, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Clothing, Diplomacy, France, Kamikaze, Nobel Prize, USSR, World War Two

Wednesday, November 29, 1944. Prisoner Exchange.

"American Red Cross representative Andrew G. Hodges talks with German officers during the exchange of prisoners near Pernic, France. 54 German prisoners were exchanged for 19 Americans, 30 French, and 3 British. 29 November, 1944."

"Pvt. George M. Leg, Birmingham, England, has his bag of personal effects inspected by a German noncom before his release during the exchange of Allied and German prisoners near Pernic, France. 29 November, 1944."

Quebec nationalist René Chaloult stated that Quebec should secede from Canada if the province was not allowed to decide its own policies on conscription.  Oddly enough, the Terrace Mutiny ended the same day.

The liberation of Albania was completed by Albanian partisans.

US forces successfully counterattack at Kilay Ridge on Leyte.

The USS Archerfish sank the carrier Shinano in waters off Honshu.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 28, 1944. Antwerp opens.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Antwerp Belgium, Battle of Leyte, boats and ships, Hungary, Philippines, Red Army, World War Two

Monday, September 5, 1774. The first Continental Congress Convenes.

President Peyton Randolph.

The first Continental Congress convened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia.  Twelve of the Fourteen (not thirteen) colonies sent delegates. Georgia, which was fearful of war with native tribes, did not participate as it hoped for British assistance in the impending war with those earlier denizens.  Quebec had no interest in participating.

Peyton Randolph of Virginia was named President of the First Continental Congress. 

Randolph. . . not Washington.  

Randolph, not Washington, was the first President of the United States by some measures (and Washington is not the first President under any properly considered measure).  He was an American born lawyer who had studied law at the Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in London, becoming a member of the bar in 1743, showing just how unlike the current populist "don't tread on me" crowd these men were.

He died of some sort of seizure in 1775 while dining with Thomas Jefferson.  He was 54 years of age.

Signatory page of the three-page Continental Association signed by 53 of the 56 delegates

Last edition:

Sunday, September 4, 1774. Explorers.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Alexander Hamilton, Canada, Exploration, Hudson's Bay Company, James Cook, New Caledonia, Personalities, Saskatchewan, The Frontier West, The written word

Wednesday, June 22, 1774. The Quebec Act gains royal assent.

The Quebec Act, regarding by the thirteen British colonies to the south of Quebec as one of the Intolerable Acts, gained royal assent.

A rational and tolerant piece of legislation, it provided for greater accommodation of Catholicism and French law in Quebec and set its borders to include virtually all the trans-Appalachian West down to the Ohio River.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 27, 1774. Heading towards revolution.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Boston Tea Party, British Army, California (Los Angeles), Colonial North America, homosexuality, Los Angeles California, Mexico, Royal Navy, Spanish Colonization, Spanish Empire, Virginia

Thursday, April 27, 1944. Exercise Tiger

Friendly fire due to lack of coordination killed US servicemen participating in Exercise Tiger, a landing practice operation.  The number of casualties inflicted remains unknown, but was large.

Later that night, into the next day, three American LST's were attacked and sunk in Lyme Bay by E-boats.

As a result of these incidents, over 700 troops were killed, with 400 of them being on a single LST.  The incident was kept secret.

The UK banned all travel outside Great Britain.

Quebec's legislative assembly voted 55 to 4 for a motion disapproving of sending conscripts overseas.

The Soviet Air Force raided Lvov at night.  

The city had been in pre-war Poland.  Now, as Lviv, it's in Ukraine, and is once again subject to Russian attack.

The U-803 was sunk by a mine in the Baltic.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 27: 1944  The Wyoming Stock Growers Association gave the University of Wyoming its archives, a major contribution given the enormous role the WSGA had in the early history of the state. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Sewell Avery, the principal of Montgomery Ward, and a highly successful and extremely conservative businessman, had to be forcibly removed from his office due to his refusal to settle a strike.  Ward's was delivering vital war goods.  Avery would accordingly not only be carted out of his office by two Military Policemen, but temporary lose his office with the company.

Upon being carried out and meeting the Attorney General who was delegated to the matter, he yelled.

 To hell with the government, you... New Dealer!

He subsequently complained that the government was leading the nation into a government of dictators.

While a savvy businessman, he misread the post-war economy and the changes that the war had brought to labor relations, and Montgomery Ward lost its position as a department store leader to Sears Roebuck.  In another misread, Avery had assigned the rights to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the company employee who had written the story for a Ward's promotional.

For some reason, I feel that Avery would be a Trump supporter.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 26, 1944. Pyrrihic Kidnapping.

1940s, 1944, Commandos, Crete, German Kriegsmarine, Imperial Japanese Navy, New Guinea, Posters, Prisoners of War, Propaganda, Royal Navy, SOE, Special Operations Executive, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Blog Mirror: On marriage, family, and the Irish constitutional referendum.

Ireland, somewhat like Canada some years ago, is in its bratty teenager years and as part of that it likes to go behind the bleachers, smoke cigarettes, make out, and complain about its parents.  In the case of Ireland, the parents are its former English overlords and the Catholic Church.  In the case of Canada, it's its deeply conservative English and French heritage, the latter of which is deeply Catholic and which doesn't exist without it, and the former of which was deeply Anglican.  

Hence, in the case of Ireland, this:

On marriage, family, and the Irish constitutional referendum

I have no doubt the referendum will pass, and in the case of the “life within the home" language in regard to women, it ought to, in my view.  And frankly, the DeValera constitution's lashing Ireland to the Church was a mistake in the first place, one which the Church tried to prevent.

The thing is, however, that the modern world to which the Irish now aspire is frankly bloody and barbaric.  It's made people weird, and unhappy.  The Irish constitution notwithstanding, the strong connection to the existential that the Irish had, and to a large degree still do, made Ireland one of the very few democratic nations that was able to remain grounded and not teeter between the radical left and right.  The US, which has a different heritage, was able to as well, but that's now floundering badly.  Ireland, from the outside, isn't doing well either, and is starting to have the appearance as all bratty teenagers do who try to keep that status too long, as looking worn and tired.

I hate to pick too much on Canada, which has the massive misfortune of living next to the US right now. As I said the other day on Twitter, living in Canada right now must be like living in an upstairs apartment where the downstairs neighbors are having a large drug and alcohol fueled argument at a family reunion, and their couch is on fire.  Indeed, Canada seems to have passed through its bratty stage, which arrived with Trudeau I, and which may be argued to have ended during the COVID pandemic.  Right now, rather than poking its heritage in the eye, it seems to be taking on the role of the worried 30-year-old who has been saddled with caring for its clearly senile and always somewhat combative uncle, Uncle Sam.  

Je me souviens.

Monday, October 29, 1973. Les électeurs du Québec ont voté pour le Parti libéral du Québec et donc pour rester dans l'union canadienne.

Voters in Quebec voted for the Quebec Liberal Party and therefore for remaining in the Canadian union.

Les électeurs du Québec ont voté pour le Parti libéral du Québec et donc pour rester dans l'union canadienne.

En effet, pourquoi quitteriez-vous le pays que vous avez fondé ?

The Uruguayan military government closed the Universidad de la República Uruguay in Montevideo due to Marxist agitation.

Sunday, June 20, 1943. Race riots in Detroit, Action in the Pacific.

A three-day race riot that would result in the deaths of 34 people broke out in Detroit, starting at the Belle Island park as a fistfight.

Race riots were a feature of Detroit life for many years. The city had been a major destination during the Great Migration, given its industrial employment opportunities.

The Allies commenced the New Georgia Campaign against the Japanese.  The first action was a Marine Corps landing on the Kula Gulf on New Georgia.

The Battle of Lababia Ridge began on New Guinea, with Australians advancing on Japanese positions.  The battle would last for three days and result in an Australian victory.

Sarah Sundin noted that Oscar Holmes became the first black pilot in the U.S. Navy on this day, but only because the Navy was not aware that the light skinned Holmes was in fact black.

The Navy did discover his ethnicity later on, but by that point judged that it would have been too embarrassing to note it in any fashion.

A U.S. meteorological flight over northern Quebec discovered the The Pingualuit Crater (Cratère des Pingualuit:), formerly called the "Chubb Crater" and later the "New Quebec Crater" (Cratère du Nouveau-Québec).

Adoption in the past

This is, I admit, inspired by some Twitter outrage about an outrageous comment by a Congressman who is not a serious person.  I'm not going to engage in that topic, as people who are not serious people, do not deserve to be taken seriously.

Rather, I started to wonder how many people, say before 1950, and then again before 1900, grew up in a household where at least one of their parents was not their "natural born parent".

I know of nobody in my family, but I'll bet it's incredibly common.  And for that matter, as my mother came from Quebec, chances are really high that part of our ancestry stems from orphans on the Coffin Ships.  No formal adoption of such orphans was ever done.  It wasn't even really possible.  The Parish Priest just told the Québécois Parishioners that ships were coming in from Ireland, and there would be orphans on them, as their parents would have died crossing the Atlantic. They just went down to the docks and took them home, raising them as their own.  They were French, the children were Irish, but more than anything, they were all Catholic.  Their parentage would not have been kept secret from them, probably, but over time, with French surnames, Irish ones forgotten, nobody would have remembered.

Indeed, while I have some French ancestry, my DNA tracks back nearly 100% to Ireland, even though I know that I have German and French ancestors.  

Chances are high . . . 

 

The Scapegoat

Industrial History: 1929 Jacques Cartier Bridge over St. Lawrence Rive...

Industrial History: 1929 Jacques Cartier Bridge over St. Lawrence Rive...: ( Historic Bridges ; 3D Satellite , 3,445 photos) Pont Jacques-Cartier, Pont du Havre (Harbor Bridge) Street View , Aug 2022 Street View , J...

Crossing over this bridge frightened me as a child. 

Monday, February 5, 1923. Parti libéral du Québec retains its position.

Louis-Alexandre Taschereau retained his position as Premier of Quebec, as he would all the way through 1936.

Taschereau was a member of the Liberal Party (Parti libéral du Québec) and had been elected in 1920 as the Canadian economy started to sink, in advance, into the Great Depression.  He was an opponent of Roosevelt's new Deal, comparing it to fascism and communism, and instead encouraged private enterprise to develop Quebec's forest and hydroelectric potential.  As he did so, his policies challenged Québécois agrarianism, which would begin to lead to its end.

And therefore, I am not a fan.

That may sound silly, but agrarianism is what allowed the Québécois to remain that.  Their agrarian separation and close association with the Catholic Church is what allowed them to remain a people for two centuries of "English" domination.

Taschereau was not a disloyal Francophone or Catholic, but by attacking the agrarian nature of Québécois society he was by default attacking its essence in favor of money.  Ultimately that attack would succeed, leading to the downfall of Québécois agrarianism and ultimately to the undercutting of the culture itself.  It remains, of course, but badly damaged by the experience.

Friday, December 22, 1922. A radiant heater will be appreciated.

Bureau of Miners Christmas Tree, December 22, 1922.

 

BLEU, the Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union, was created.  

The Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec in Quebec City, originally built in 1647, was heavily damages in an early morning fire.

Monday, November 2, 1942. Stars and Stripes reborn.

Stars and Stripes, which had its birth as an Army newspaper during World War One, was reborn.

US made 105mm Self Propelled gun in British service, November 2, 1942.

Phase Four of the Second Battle of El Alamein, Operation Supercharge, commenced.  Rommel, back in command of the Afrika Korps, cabeled Hitler, stating:

The army's strength was so exhausted after its ten days of battle that it was not now capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt ... With our great shortage of vehicles an orderly withdrawal of the non-motorised forces appeared impossible ... In these circumstances we had to reckon, at the least, with the gradual destruction of the army.

Hitler replied:

It is with trusting confidence in your leadership and the courage of the German-Italian troops under your command that the German people and I are following the heroic struggle in Egypt. In the situation which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are being sent to C.-in-C South. The Duce and the Comando Supremo are also making the utmost efforts to send you the means to continue the fight. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death. Adolf Hitler.

The Australians captured Kokoda.

The BBC began French language broadcasts to Quebec.

Can somebody wake up Cowboy Joe?

From a recent Benzinga news story:

What Happened: North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley shot off a letter to the Gates-linked Red River Trust this week, reported KFYR, Bismarck, North Dakota-based T.V. station.

Wrigley asked the company how they intend to use the land and if they meet exceptions to the state’s corporate farming laws.

"All corporations or limited liability companies (LLC) are prohibited from owning or leasing farmland or ranchland and from engaging in farming or ranching," the letter states, as per the report.

"In addition, the law places certain limitations on the ability of trusts to own farmland or ranchland."

The company has 30 days to respond to the letter dated June 21. Public reaction to the Red River purchase has not been positive, reported KFYR. 

North Dakota is practically right next door. They're prohibiting corporate ownership of ag land, in the interest of protecting local farmers and ranchers.

Iowa requires ag land to be owned by people actually farming it.

So does Quebec.

I'm not saying that no corporate ownership must be the rule, as there are corporations made up of farming and ranching interests.  But remote, disant, investment, ownership with no local ties. . . ?

Related threads:

The Invaders

"This land is my land, but shouldn't be your land". Misbegotten hostility to ranchers using the public lands

Lex Anteinternet: "This land is my land, but shouldn't be your land"...

Friday, July 10, 1942. The Akutan Zero.

In the Aleutians, a PBY pilot spotted a nearly intact Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island.  The aircraft would be recovered and rebuilt, with lessons learned from that instrumental in learning how to take on the advanced Japanese fighter.

The discovery was due to the crew of the PBY having becoming lost and having to reorient themselves before flying back to their base at Dutch Harbor.  The route took them over the downed aircraft.

The island had been evacuated, with its mostly native population having been removed the month prior. They would not return until 1944, although many chose to go back to the island.

The discovery was a major loss to the Japanese.

The A-26 Invader flew for the first time.

The first flight.

The twin-engined attack aircraft would remain in service until the late 1960s.

British forces launched an offensive on Italian forces outside of El Alamein, gaining ground.  By "British" we mean Commonwealth, as in this case the advancing troops were South African and Australian.  The battle at El Alamein was from a British prospective an international affair.

Two more ships of the harried convoy PQ 17 are sunk, this time by U boats.

Bombardier, the Canadian manufacture of snow machines (and jet aircraft), was founded.  The company, named for its founder, came about due to a tragedy when Jospeh-Armand Bombardier's two-year-old son was not able to reach the hospital due to snow blocked roads, and died of appendicitis.  This inspired Bombardier, who had made snow machines as a hobby before, to start making heavy snow machines commercially.

The Orson Wells directed tragedy, The Magnificent Ambersons, was released.

Sunday, June 11, 1922. Nanook of the North.

Nanook of the North, a docudrama, was released. It was one of the first of its kind.

It followed the lives of a native family in far northern Quebec.

Wednesday, February 11, 1942. The Channel Dash.

On this day in 1942 the Germans commenced the "Channel Dash" in an effort to run two battleships from the port of Brest to their home ports in Germany.  The battleships were the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, accompanied by the cruiser Prinz Eugen.  They'd been enduring bombing by the RAF in Brest.

The German effort commenced under the cover of night on February 11 and with radio jamming which precluded British agents from radioing about the ship's departure.  It was covered by the Luftwaffe, so the ensuing battle was an air and sea battle.

Both sides sustained damage and casualties in the effort, but the German objective was successful.  Given that the Germans did in fact run the channel, albeit partially at night, it was a bit of an embarrassment to the British.

According to Sarah Sundin's blog, there were riots in Montreal over conscription plans on this date.

I'm not aware of the 1942 riots, although I am of 1944 riots. At any rate, conscription had been in place since 1940, but at that time conscripted troops could not be required to serve overseas unless they so volunteered, resulting in an enduring Canadian controversy.  Troops who would not volunteer were termed "zombies" by those who resented it.  Resistance to conscription was particularly strong in Quebec, where Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis had called a snap election in 1939 to oppose the war only to lose his seat to Adelard Godbout, who had the support of the Federal government in the election.

French Canadian resistance to conscription has been an ongoing matter of controversy in Canada.  Simply put, the Québécois were largely disinterested in the war, although 20% of those who volunteered to fight overseas were in fact Québécois.  This makes for a complicated legacy in obvious ways.

US forces arrived to help defend the Dutch islands of Curacoa, Bonaire and Aruba with permission of the Dutch government in exile.

Also, according to Sundin, the US took over Dupont's supply of nylon, a critical war material used for a variety of things, including parachutes.

The documentary Our Russian Front was released on this date in 1942.

Blog Mirror: A Hundred Years Ago. 1921 Thanksgiving Menus

From the always excellent A Hundred Years Ago:

1921 Thanksgiving Menus

Note, the small servantless  house.  

I commented on that entry with this:

I’m struck by the “servantless” house comment. I wonder what percentage of homes actually had servants? Surely a small minority, but still its an interesting comment as the author expects that some of the readers will have them.

We don't have servants, rather obviously, and I don't know anyone who does.  I do know some people who have "cleaning ladies", which are women who will clean houses, but not a daily basis.

I know that my father's family didn't have domestics of any kind.  No doubt my grandmother had the laboring oar there, and likely my father's two sisters a bit after a certain age. But my mother's family did have them up until some point in the 1930s, when the Great Depression halted that and the female members of the household took over.  I also know that they were what my mother called "French", meaning Quebecois, which is interesting in that my mother was "Irish Canadian", which in her case really meant that she was mostly Irish, but also a little French (probably 1/4, if I recall correctly).  Irish Canadians mostly lived in the cities, as she did, and their position in Quebec's economic system, which was highly agrarian at the time, was different from that of the full Quebecois.  Having said that, almost all Quebecois near the cities were also somewhat Irish, as Irish orphans had been taken in right off the docks at one time through direct adoptions by the Catholic population.

The maids didn't live there, they came in, and I don't know how frequently.  They also didn't cook, that was my grandmother's job, and like my mother, she reportedly was not particularly good at it.

She wouldn't have cooked anything like this, of course.  American Thanksgiving is an American deal.

Farmland in Quebec. Ils se souviennent

I wish we had this law.  It's from Quebec.

chapter A-4.1

ACT RESPECTING THE ACQUISITION OF FARM LAND BY NON-RESIDENTS

DIVISION I

INTERPRETATION

1. In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise,

“acquisition” means the act of becoming the owner of property by conveyance of ownership, including sale with a right of redemption, emphyteusis, alienation for rent, forced sale within the meaning of article 1758 of the Civil Code and sale for unpaid taxes, except by

(1)  transmission owing to death;

(2)  the exercise of the right of redemption following a sale for unpaid taxes and any conveyance resulting from the Expropriation Act (chapter E‐24);

(3)  transfer of a right contemplated in section 8 of the Mining Act (chapter M‐13.1) or section 15 of the Petroleum Resources Act (chapter H-4.2);

(4)  transfer of cutting rights or timber limits under the Lands and Forests Act (chapter T‐9);

“agriculture” , “public road” , “commission” and “lot” have the same meaning as in the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities (chapter P‐41.1);

“farm land” means land used for agricultural purposes having an area of not less than four hectares, consisting of one lot or several contiguous lots or several lots that would be contiguous were they not separated by a public road.

1979, c. 65, s. 1; 1987, c. 64, s. 328; 1996, c. 26, s. 85; 1999, c. 40, s. 6; 2016, c. 35, s. 23.

The reference pursuant to section 97 of chapter 23 of the statutes of 1987 in respect of the Lands and Forests Act (chapter T‐9) could not be effected in this section because all timber limits leased on the domain of the State were cancelled on 1 April 1987. (1986, c. 108, s. 213; 1999, c. 40, s. 140).

2. For the purposes of this Act, a natural person is resident in Québec if the person is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (S.C. 2001, c. 27) and has lived in Québec for not less than 1,095 days during the 48 months immediately preceding the date of acquisition of farm land.

1979, c. 65, s. 2; 2013, c. 24, s. 1.

3. Notwithstanding section 2, a natural person is deemed to be resident in Québec if he or she lived in Québec for not less than 1,095 days during the 48 months immediately before leaving, and

(1)  is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces;

(2)  is an ambassador, minister, commissioner, civil servant or agent of Québec or of Canada;

(3)  holds an office within the framework of a program sponsored by the Government of Canada or of Québec, or an agency of one of these;

(4)  is pursuing a course of studies or a training program;

(5)  is the married or civil union spouse or the minor child of a person contemplated in paragraph 1, 2, 3 or 4.

1979, c. 65, s. 3; 2002, c. 6, s. 77; 2013, c. 24, s. 2.

4. For the purposes of this Act, a legal person is resident in Québec if it is validly constituted, regardless of the manner or place of its constitution and

(1)  in the case of a legal person with share capital, more than 50% of the voting shares of its capital stock are owned by one or more persons resident in Québec and more than one-half of its directors are natural persons resident in Québec;

(2)  in the case of a legal person without share capital, more than one-half of its members are resident in Québec; and

(3)  it is not directly or indirectly controlled by one or more non-residents.

1979, c. 65, s. 4; 1999, c. 40, s. 6.

DIVISION II

TERRITORIAL APPLICATION

5. This Act applies to that part of the territory of Québec situated south of the Fiftieth Parallel of North Latitude.

1979, c. 65, s. 5.

6. Notwithstanding section 5, in a territory under a designated agricultural region decree passed under the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities (chapter P-41.1), this Act applies only to farm land situated in a reserved area or in an agricultural zone.

However, subject to sections 21 to 24, this Act does not apply to the acquisition of an area of farm land which, by virtue of sections 101 to 105 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities, may be used for a purpose other than agriculture without the authorization of the commission.

1979, c. 65, s. 6; 1996, c. 26, s. 85.

7. In a territory not subject to a designated agricultural region decree passed under the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities (chapter P‐41.1), this Act does not, subject to sections 21 to 24, apply to the acquisition of farm land if, at the time of its acquisition by a non‐resident, authorization has already been given by order of the Government or a municipal by‐law for its use or acquisition for public utility by the Government, a government minister, an agency within the meaning of paragraph 12 of section 1 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities, or an authorized expropriator.

The same rule applies in respect of farm land which,

(1)  before its acquisition by a non‐resident, had been acquired under the Act respecting municipal industrial immovables (chapter I‐0.1);

(2)  at the time of its acquisition by a non-resident, is adjacent to a public road on which water and sewer services were authorized by a municipal by-law passed before the date of the acquisition and lawfully approved.

The right set forth in subparagraph 2 of the second paragraph does not extend, however, beyond the bounds described in the third paragraph of section 105 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities.

1979, c. 65, s. 7; 1996, c. 26, s. 85.

DIVISION III

CONTROL OF THE ACQUISITION OF FARM LAND

8. Non-residents shall not, directly or indirectly, make an acquisition of farm land except with the authorization of the commission.

1979, c. 65, s. 8.

9. The acquisition of any lot causing a non-resident to become the owner of farm land is deemed to be an acquisition of farm land.

1979, c. 65, s. 9.

10. A non-resident is deemed to make an acquisition of farm land if he acquires shares in a business corporation whose principal asset is farm land and if, through that transfer of shares, that business corporation becomes a non-resident legal person.

1979, c. 65, s. 10; 1999, c. 40, s. 6; 2009, c. 52, s. 714.

11. A person resident in Québec shall not make an acquisition of farm land in the name or on behalf of a non-resident, except with the authorization of the commission.

1979, c. 65, s. 11.

12. A non-resident who wishes to obtain an authorization under this Act must submit an application to the commission together with all the documents and information prescribed by government regulation and, where applicable, payment of the duties prescribed for that application.

1979, c. 65, s. 12.

13. The application must be accompanied with an affidavit declaring the reasons for the acquisition of the farm land, the intended use of the land, and, where such is the case, that the applicant intends to settle in Québec.

1979, c. 65, s. 13.

14. The commission must give the applicant and every interested person the opportunity to present observations.

It may, furthermore, require from these persons, who must comply with this requirement, all such information and documents as it may consider relevant to the examination of the application.

It shall, before rendering an unfavourable decision, notify the applicant in writing as prescribed by section 5 of the Act respecting administrative justice (chapter J-3) and allow the interested person at least 10 days to present observations.

1979, c. 65, s. 14; 1986, c. 95, s. 11; 1997, c. 43, s. 14.

15. The commission, taking into consideration the biophysical conditions of the soil and of the environment, shall determine whether the farm land that is the subject of an application is suitable for the cultivation of the soil or the raising of livestock.

1979, c. 65, s. 15; 1996, c. 2, s. 14; 2013, c. 24, s. 3.

15.1. An authorization is to be granted in all cases where the land concerned is not suitable for the cultivation of the soil or the raising of livestock.

2013, c. 24, s. 3.

15.2. An authorization to acquire farm land suitable for the cultivation of the soil or the raising of livestock is to be granted to any natural person who intends to settle in Québec on the condition that the person live in Québec for not less than 1,095 days during the 48 months following the date of acquisition and that on the expiry of such time the person be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (S.C. 2001, c. 27).

2013, c. 24, s. 3.

15.3. Except for areas of land in respect of which an authorization is granted to natural persons who intend to settle in Québec, no more than 1,000 ha of farm land suitable for the cultivation of the soil or the raising of livestock may be added in a year to the total of such areas that any other persons have already been authorized to acquire.

An application filed by a legal person or by a natural person who does not intend to settle in Québec that would ultimately bring the total area added in the year beyond the 1,000-ha limit may nevertheless be examined by the commission.

2013, c. 24, s. 3.

16. In examining an application, the commission shall take into consideration

(1)  the intended use, in particular the applicant’s intention to cultivate the soil or raise livestock on the farm land that is the subject of the application;

(2)  the impact of the acquisition on the price of farm land in the region;

(3)  the effects of the acquisition or projected use on the economic development of the region;

(4)  the development of agricultural products and the development of underutilized farm land; and

(5)  the impact on land occupancy.

1979, c. 65, s. 16; 2013, c. 24, s. 3.

16.1. A natural person referred to in section 15.2 may prove to the commission that the prescribed conditions have been fulfilled and request a certificate attesting that the person is resident in Québec. Such a certificate confirms the acquisition for all legal purposes.

2013, c. 24, s. 3.

17. The commission shall render a substantiated decision and send it by registered mail to the non-resident, to the owner of the immovable concerned and to every other interested person.

1979, c. 65, s. 17.

18. Subject to the review or proceeding referred to in section 34, the decisions of the commission are final and without appeal.

1979, c. 65, s. 18; 1997, c. 43, s. 15.

19. The commission’s decisions shall be filed in its head office in conformity with section 15 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities (chapter P-41.1).

1979, c. 65, s. 19; 1996, c. 26, s. 85; 1997, c. 43, s. 16.

20. The Government may, by a written notice to the commission, withdraw any non-resident’s application from its jurisdiction and take it up itself.

Where the Government avails itself of the powers conferred on it by this section, the secretary of the commission must transmit to it a copy of the record and notify the interested persons in writing that the application has been withdrawn from the commission’s jurisdiction. The Government shall then decide the application, after obtaining the commission’s advice.

The decision of the Government shall be filed in the head office of the commission, which shall notify the interested persons in writing.

1979, c. 65, s. 20; 1997, c. 43, s. 17.

DIVISION IV

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF AN ACQUISITION

1995, c. 33, s. 11.

21. The application for registration of the acquisition of farm land by a non-resident must contain

(1)  the declaration of the acquirer that he is not resident in Québec;

(2)  the name of the local municipality in whose territory, or of the unorganized territory in which, the land is situated;

(3)  the area of the farm land so acquired;

(4)  the authorization granted by the commission or, in the cases provided for in the second paragraph of section 6 and in section 7, the ground on which it is not required.

1979, c. 65, s. 21; 1995, c. 33, s. 12; 1996, c. 2, s. 15.

22. (Repealed).

1979, c. 65, s. 22; 1995, c. 33, s. 13; 2000, c. 42, s. 96.

23. The registrar shall notify the commission of the acquisition of farm land by a person who is not a resident of Québec by transmitting to the commission a copy of the application for registration and, where the application is in the form of a summary, a copy of the accompanying document, not later than the fifteenth day of the month following the month of the registration of the acquisition.

1979, c. 65, s. 23; 1995, c. 33, s. 13; 2000, c. 42, s. 97.

24. The registrar must refuse to register the acquisition of farm land by a person who is not a resident of Québec if he ascertains that the application for registration does not contain the information required by section 21.

1979, c. 65, s. 24; 1995, c. 33, s. 13; 2000, c. 42, s. 98.

DIVISION V

PENALTIES

25. Where the commission becomes aware that a person is contravening any provision of this Act, or the conditions of an order or of an authorization to acquire farm land, it may issue an order enjoining that person to cease the alleged contravention within a prescribed time.

The order shall be served on the contravener in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure (chapter C‐25.01).

1979, c. 65, s. 25; I.N. 2016-01-01 (NCCP).

26. If a person fails to comply with an order of the commission issued under section 25, the Attorney General or the commission may, by an application, obtain an order from a judge of the Superior Court enjoining that person to comply with the order of the commission, and ordering that on his default it may be carried out at his expense.

1979, c. 65, s. 26; I.N. 2016-01-01 (NCCP).

27. Any acquisition of farm land made in contravention of sections 8 to 11 is null.

The Attorney General, the commission or any other interested person may apply to the Superior Court to have such nullity declared.

In such a case, the Superior Court may order the cancellation of all rights and hypothecs created by or resulting from any deed of acquisition effected in contravention of this Act.

However, that nullity shall not be set up against a person resident in Québec who acquired the immovable by a deed of conveyance of ownership.

1979, c. 65, s. 27; 1992, c. 57, s. 427.

28. Where a person has made an acquisition of farm land in contravention of sections 8 to 11, the commission may, by order, to the extent that the right of action contemplated in section 27 is not exercised, enjoin that person to divest himself of that farm land within six months of the service of that order.

If that person fails to comply with the order within the allotted time, the commission may apply to a judge of the Superior Court to obtain authorization to sell the immovable under judicial authority. In such a case, articles 704 and following of the Code of Civil Procedure (chapter C‐25.01) apply, with the necessary modifications.

The proceeds of the sale, after payment of the costs, the claims of the prior and hypothecary creditors, and the fines, if any, due under section 31, shall be remitted to the contravener.

1979, c. 65, s. 28; 1992, c. 57, s. 428; I.N. 2016-01-01 (NCCP).

29. Every person is guilty of an offence who

(1)  contravenes this Act or the regulations;

(2)  knowingly acquires or sells farm land or a lot in contravention of sections 8 to 11;

(3)  knowingly alienates farm land or a lot to a non-resident in contravention of sections 8 to 11;

(4)  knowingly hinders or misleads a person empowered to make an investigation under this Act or gives him false information; or

(5)  hinders the application of this Act, fails to comply with an order of the commission or refuses to comply with one of its decisions.

1979, c. 65, s. 29.

30. Every person who knowingly does or omits to do a thing with the object of aiding a person to commit an offence against this Act, or who knowingly advises, encourages or incites a person to commit an offence, is himself a party to the offence.

1979, c. 65, s. 30.

31. Every person who commits an offence described in paragraph 1, 4 or 5 of section 29 is liable,

(1)  in the case of a natural person, to a fine of not less than $200 nor more than $5,000;

(2)  in the case of a legal person, to a fine of not less than $600 nor more than $30,000.

Every person who commits an offence described in paragraph 2 or 3 of section 29 is liable,

(1)  in the case of a natural person, to a fine of at least 10% of the actual value of the farm land in question;

(2)  in the case of a legal person, to a fine of at least 20% of the actual value of the farm land in question.

1979, c. 65, s. 31; 1990, c. 4, s. 39; 1992, c. 61, s. 40; 1999, c. 40, s. 6.

32. Where a legal person commits an offence against this Act, every director, officer, functionary, employee or agent of that legal person who has prescribed or authorized the commission of the offence or who has consented thereto is deemed to be a party to the offence and is liable to the penalty provided in section 31 for natural persons.

1979, c. 65, s. 32; 1999, c. 40, s. 6.

DIVISION VI

GENERAL PROVISIONS

33. This Act does not apply where a non-resident becomes the owner of farm land by the exercise of a right to take in payment if

(1)  his principal business is making loans on real security;

(2)  (subparagraph repealed);

(3)  the farm land is not repossessed following one or more operations mainly intended to elude the application of this Act.

Similarly, this Act does not apply where a non-resident becomes the owner of farm land under a resolutive clause or by the exercise of a right to take in payment if

(1)  he is the vendor of the land and has not received payment for it; or

(2)  the act or acts granting him the right to become owner under a resolutive clause or by the exercise of a right to take in payment was or were registered according to law before 21 December 1979.

1979, c. 65, s. 33; 1992, c. 57, s. 429.

34. The commission is responsible for overseeing the application of this Act, and, to that end, sections 7, 8, 11, 13, 13.1, 14, 16, 17, 18.5, 18.6, 19 and 21.1 to 21.5 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities (chapter P-41.1), adapted as required, apply.

1979, c. 65, s. 34; 1989, c. 7, s. 32; 1996, c. 26, s. 64; 1997, c. 43, s. 18.

35. The Government may, by regulation,

(1)  prescribe the inclusion of certain declarations in deeds or other documents contemplated in this Act;

(2)  determine the manner in which the declarations required under this Act and the regulations must be made;

(3)  determine the manner of submitting an application for authorization and the form and content of any document, notice or form required for the application of this Act;

(4)  prescribe the tariff of duties, fees and costs for applications to the commission under this Act;

(5)  (subparagraph repealed).

Regulations made under this Act come into force on their date of publication in the Gazette officielle du Québec or on a later date fixed therein.

1979, c. 65, s. 35; 1995, c. 33, s. 14.

36. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is responsible for the application of this Act.

1979, c. 65, s. 36; 1979, c. 77, s. 21.

37. (Omitted).

1979, c. 65, s. 37.

38. (This section ceased to have effect on 17 April 1987).

1982, c. 21, s. 1; U. K., 1982, c. 11, Sch. B, Part I, s. 33.

REPEAL SCHEDULE

In accordance with section 17 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes and regulations (chapter R-3), chapter 65 of the statutes of 1979, in force on 1 November 1980, is repealed, except section 37, effective from the coming into force of chapter A-4.1 of the Revised Statutes.

Good for them.