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Quebec’s “autocratic” control of maple syrup makers, a reign of terror which relies on bailiffs, security guards and the courts, is crippling the province’s most celebrated export, and the province needs to abandon its maple syrup quotas, says a new report.

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Fighting to keep their syrup out of the hands of the powerful Quebec monopoly, producers sneak barrels by night, deal in a black market and even flee the province.

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The report, released Thursday, warns that New York State alone boasts more maple trees than Quebec, and the United States could become self-sufficient in maple syrup in 10 years, destroying the province’s biggest syrup export market.

Quebec’s agriculture minister Pierre Paradis ordered the report last May after an article in the Financial Post described a pitched battle between some producers and the federation of syrup makers.

In a system designed to give producers a fair price, the syrup federation tells each producer how much syrup they may make, is the sole authorized buyer of the syrup, sets one price for syrup, judges syrup quality and pays producers only when it sells their product.