Canada/$12,000 for consultations in Matapédia-Les Plateaux

MRC Avignon provides a $12,000 grant for public consultations on the amalgamation of the five municipalities of Matapédia, Saint-François-d'Assise, l'Ascension-de-Patapédia, Saint-Alexis-de-Matapédia and Saint-André-de-Restigouche.

The five municipalities have already been working together for many years through intermunicipal agreements for the fire department, recreation, culture and the tourism and economic corporation. Nevertheless, they could pool their services even further.

We've reached the stage of holding a public consultation. In a consolidation project like this, we want to be very well supported by specialized firms, and the $12,000 from the MRC will be used to pay this resource, this firm for the public consultation," says Matapédia mayor Nicole Lagacé.

The $12,000 grant from the MRC Avignon is in addition to a sum of $12,000 that will come from the five municipalities to pay for the public consultations.

It's a total mandate of $24,000, spread over several months. There are several stages. The MRC will contribute 50%, i.e. $12,000, and the other 50% will be assumed by all five municipalities, on a pro rata basis according to the population's property wealth," explains Nicole Lagacé.

Public consultation is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks. It will be held in each municipality and will conclude with the tabling of a final report. It's a year-long process, scheduled to end in June 2026," she says.

According to Ms. Lagacé, this consultation process is not mandatory, but municipal administrations want to make sure they have the support of the population.

We understand that the amalgamation process devised several years ago by the Ministère [des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation] was very poorly received by many municipalities. Now we're talking about consolidation, and what we want to do is consult the population, because we want them to understand what this process is all about, and we want to hear what they have to say," she says.

If the population as a whole doesn't agree, I find it difficult to adhere to a process like this. You have to wait until the population is ready to get on board, and for the five municipalities, it becomes extremely important to go out and consult people.

A quote from Nicole Lagacé, Mayor of Matapédia

With the municipal elections in November, it will be up to the next municipal councils to finalize the process. Nicole Lagacé has decided not to seek re-election after two consecutive terms.

It's not the current councils that will decide whether or not to go ahead with a merger. It will be the new councils, because if the study is completed in 2026, and depending on the outcome of the consultations, the amalgamation process may not take place before 2027.

At the beginning of May, Saint-André-de-Restigouche councillors opposed the amalgamation process. The mayor, Doris Deschênes, used her veto to save the process. At a subsequent meeting, the municipal council finally agreed to wait for the population to be consulted before deciding what to do next.

According to Nicole Lagacé, there would be advantages in terms of human resources, but also economically. These are often small, small municipalities, and we realize that the burden is becoming heavy, so this association could be interesting.

It's a region that's similar economically and that's facing challenges in terms of revitalization, but that's working extremely hard to pull through," she points out.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/