Canada/ Gaspé takes strategic planning one step further

The Town of Gaspé is moving ahead with its strategic planning project for the next 10 years. The results of the extensive citizen consultation launched last autumn have just been published.

In November, citizens were invited to complete an online survey and participate in a wave of public hearings held by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.

According to the firm's survey, more than one in two young people don't know if they want to live and work in Gaspé later in life.

Some eight out of 10 people have a strong sense of belonging to Gaspé, and respondents say they feel safe here.

Nearly a thousand people took part in the online consultation, and another hundred attended the public hearings.

Gaspé resident Jean-Yves Dupuis took part in all five public consultation sessions. He is satisfied with the citizen mobilization and the interventions he heard, but still has some questions.

What's important for me, as a citizen, like many others, is to know what the action plan will be [...] And what the budget will be [...]. [And what budget will be allocated to implement the action plan?

A quote from Jean-Yves Dupuis, citizen of Gaspé

He is also concerned about the project's timetable, projected to 2034.

I've never seen an action plan spread over ten years. Especially since we'll have three municipal councils and three elections during that period," explains Jean-Yves Dupuis.

Will the new municipal councils go along with the action plan to be drawn up this year? We don't know if the wind will change," he wonders.

In response, Gaspé mayor Daniel Côté points out that municipal councils are sovereign. Since the strategy is based on the participation of 1,500 citizens, it would be difficult, even perilous, for a municipal council to completely change the angle of attack, he believes.

He also points out that the public consultations have made it possible to draw up a number of broad lines of work. There are, however, a number of issues to work on, where people are the most dissatisfied, and we understand them," he explains.

Unsurprisingly, housing was the main topic of discussion. Commercial development was also on the agenda, as was the whole issue of transportation, both locally and nationally, such as air transport.

Next steps

A second survey, on strategic orientations, is available online on the Ville de Gaspé website.

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton will first present the results to the Gaspé municipal council. The latter will then be able to prepare a precise and final strategy to be presented to the public in March.

The strategic orientation plan will then be implemented until the ^500th anniversary celebrations in 2034.

Mayor Daniel Côté plans to use this consultation model for other projects, such as the future of two large downtown lots.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/