Google is more important than our farmland

Quebec farmers are scrambling to find Google land in Buharnois with the intention of building a 35 735 million data center on hydro-Quebec-owned farmland.

Also read: GAFAM tax brought in 5 365 million in three months

Jeremy Letellier, president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) of Monterogy, asked “why can’t ordinary people search Google for government?”

Yesterday, the American giant announced its desire to own land in Buharnois to build its first data center in the country. The 35 735 million project will create about 30 jobs.

At present we do not know the surface area of ​​this data center, which could create 300 and 500 jobs during construction.

“It simply came to our notice then. At this stage, the intention is to own the land in Buharnois. The next step will be acquisition and in the future, we will build a data center there, ”it said Journal His spokesman was Luiza Stanik yesterday.

Dissatisfaction

However, according to the UPA Monteroge, the federation is opposed to the “zoning change of 62.4 hectares of the most beautiful farmland in Quebec”.

According to the union, Quebec approved an order allowing Google to own the land without going through the normal process of the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Lands, which it did not approve.

“It simply came to our notice then. We are going to add Garnot. We will build on it, ”he said sadly Journal Yesterday a local farmer, refused to identify.

During the passage Journal, The mayor of Buharnois, Bruno Tremble, has another vision for the project, which will be constructive for his city.

“There is a re-launch of an equivalent area returned to agriculture,” Google recalled, adding that Google did not receive any tax breaks.

“If the transaction is equal to the rate of land we sold (50 3.50 per square foot), we are talking about transfer tax, 000 600,000,” he said.

According to Bruno Tremble, the attraction of Google to its backyard is the proximity of the hydro-Quebec substation in the truck.

“In this case, it’s suppressing our reliable and inexpensive hydro-electricity standards,” said Stefan Pocket, CEO of Montreal International (MI), noting the growing thirst for it.

The Finance Ministry said yesterday that Google had not been granted financial assistance for the data center project in Buharnois.

Hydro-Quebec says Google will not have a tax holiday. “Google only qualifies for the LG tariff,” said its spokesman Mark-Antoine Pouliot.

Quebec is sensitive to requests

Joined Newspaper, The cabinet of Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne insisted that Quebec had defended the interests of the agrarian community from the outset in this file.

Historic compensation, covering an area of ​​62.4 hectares, $ 3.5 million and more than 200 hectares from Hydro-Quebec to the UPA-Fundation Trust, 7 2.7 million transferred to the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) … Legalt government is sensitive to farmers’ demands, it has been argued.

“The Minister assured that our Government will take unprecedented steps to mitigate the consequences of the project on the agricultural zone,” Lawrence Voigelle, Mr Lamontagne’s Press Secretary, summed up.

GOOGLE in Quebec

• Arrival: 2004
• Employees: About 300
• Professionals and areas of activity in Quebec: Cybersecurity, Sales, Chrome Management, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence

^{Source: Google}

– In collaboration with Pascal Dugas Bourdain

Google still wants to welcome 1,000 employees to its new offices in Rue Weiger, Montreal. The American multinational has recently invested over three million in Mila to support research on artificial intelligence in Quebec.