Canadian liquid gold maple syrup.

The Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve in Quebec

Responsible for more than 70 percent of global annual production, Canada holds the record as the world’s leading producer of maple syrup.
In particular, it is the Quebec region that boasts this vocation: here sirop d’érable employs more than 12,000 people and 7,300 companies.

Maple syrup is not only a local but also a national pride, a fundamental part of Canadian culture. It is the natural wealth par excellence of the country, so important that it is also on the flag of Canada: it represents the nation itself.

A natural wealth worth protecting in a strategic reserve, known as the International Strategic Reserve (ISR).
Depending on the year, it can happen that production exceeds demand: several warehouses scattered around the region store the excess barrels produced each year, which make up the world’s supply of maple syrup.

The strategic reserve was established by the Federation of Maple Syrup Producers of Quebec (FPAQ), a kind of legal economic cartel that has existed since 1966 and that imposes restrictions and controls on associated producers with the aim of stabilising prices.

For many producers this is a system that works very well because it keeps prices low; however, not everyone agrees to comply with the rules imposed by the Federation and invoke freedom. The conflict between those who are proud of the Federation and those who would like a free market is precisely what created the precondition for the coup of the century.

The theft of the maple syrup century

On August 24, 2012, the Quebec Maple Syrup Federation reported that it had been the victim of a crime. It was a very unusual theft: a theft of maple syrup.
As many as 9,561 barrels, worth more than $18 million, had in fact been stolen from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, the largest theft ever in Canadian history.

A special investigation team was established, with 250 officers involved and over 200 witnesses questioned. After months of work the discovery: the maple syrup had been racked; the barrels emptied had been partly filled with water, others left empty. The stolen syrup had then reached Vermont and New Brunswick Canada to be sold to distributors unaware of the origin.

Seventeen people were arrested in December of that year, of whom three were found guilty and sentenced to exemplary punishment: Richard Vallières, the gang boss, to eight years in prison, accomplice Avik Caron to five years and a fine of 1.2 million, and Sébastien Jutras, the truck driver who transported the stolen syrup, to eight months in prison.

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