[VIDÉO] Minister André Lamontagne’s difficult transition to the UPA

Minister André Lamontagne experienced difficult times during his time at 99^e Congress of the Union of Agricultural Producers, Wednesday. After having experienced a cold on stage with the president of the organization, a market gardener came and offered to “kick his ass”.

In the middle of his speech, the Minister of Agriculture was interrupted by the president of the UPA, Martin Caron.

“Martin, I still have five minutes,” said André Lamontagne. The minister had been speaking for about 22 minutes and believed he had about half an hour available to him.

Faced with the intransigence of his host, the minister seemed offended. “I took the trouble to write to you. I told you it’s between 23 and 25 minutes. You offered me 30 minutes at the beginning,” he told Mr. Caron.

He replies that the time allocated was more like 23 minutes.

In palpable unease, André Lamontagne then indicates that he will only answer questions for around fifteen minutes.

The minister will finally put up a brave face and take part in the question-and-answer game for an hour.

A pair of boots

André Lamontagne, however, was not at the end of his troubles. Several agricultural producers came to the microphone to share their complaints, including Meghan Jarry who brought a basket of groceries so that young farmers could leave a list of their apprehensions about the future.

Philippe Leguerrier, a market gardener from Blainville, even took out his “pandemic” work boots. “If it will kick your ass to act, I will put them in your grocery basket,” he told the minister.

At the end of the exchanges, André Lamontagne called out to “my gentleman with his boots” before launching into a fiery plea.

“There is not a morning that I get up, and there is not a night that I go to bed, that I do not think of the rest of you and that I do not try, the next morning, to do the best possible for all the rest of you,” he told his audience.

While recognizing that he could not be a “miracle box”, he assured agricultural producers of his commitment to them since his appointment in 2018.

“It means that, for me, to have someone at the front who comes to give me their boots to kick me in the ass, that doesn’t bother me. Because I know that when I go to bed at night, I cannot be more committed than I am to you, to what you do, to your children, and wishing, that forever, there will be agriculture in Quebec, for the next 100 years,” he declared.

The president of the UPA also thanked the minister for his support for the work of farmers, visibly seeking to calm things down. “We feel it, it’s in your gut too, and we’re going to be there with you. Thank you, Minister,” concluded Martin Caron.

Those present also gave loud applause to the two men on stage.

Absent du cocktail

Despite this, André Lamontagne was absent at the cocktail party at the start of the evening, where he was to give a speech.

At his office, it is claimed that this absence had no connection with the incidents of the day. The minister, we assure you, was taken by another commitment.