Despite popular will, Mario Bédard is not closing the door on a new agreement between the Quebec government and the RCR manager in the complex Mont-Sainte-Anne file.
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According to the entrepreneur, even if the ideal were to rule out the current company, this hypothesis may be rejected.
On behalf of the Avenir Mont-Sainte-Anne coalition, Mario Bédard and Alex Harvey met Tuesday with the Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, Jonatan Julien, who was accompanied by CAQ MP for Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré, Kariane Bourassa would .
“The 1994 contract, I’ve read it and there’s nothing there. The ideal would be not to have RCR in the background anymore. On the other hand, if RCR stays, it means a new contract. Everyone wants Mont-Sainte-Anne to be a jewel again. To achieve this, it is negotiation.
A Léger poll found that 81% of residents want the government to intervene to force managerial changes.
Even skiing
After speaking to Minister Julien, Mario Bédard says he is convinced of the importance of the dossier for the Quebec City region. However, both Pierre Fitzgibbon and Jonatan Julien have closed the door to dispossession of the current owner.
“If you look at the contract that was signed with RCR at the time, RCR is fulfilling its commitments,” Mr Fitzgibbon even stated last week. This statement has startled several people who claim that the contract contains no obligation.
“The obligation is that the mountain must remain a pleasure mountain. He could almost give up alpine skiing. He can’t make an investment, leave the gondola closed for five years and nobody can take the mountain away from him,” joked Mario Bédard.
Irrespective of the conclusion of the negotiations, the latter firmly assumes that the clientele will improve. “I’m convinced. Everyone wants that.”
uncertainty
Is it possible to reverse the contract? Stubborn or indifferent, Canadian billionaire owner of RCR Murray Edwards lives in London and hasn’t answered questions for years.
In Quebec, the official leader of the opposition, Marc Tanguay, denounces this climate of insecurity. “For several months we have been told one thing and the opposite. Apparently, the CAQ doesn’t know which foot to dance on, and meanwhile the whole region is paying the price economically. The government needs to make its intentions clear,” said the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party.
In addition, a decision from the arbitration panel is expected in the coming days after the Quebec government expressed a desire to repossess the land on the mountain’s edge. The development of the perimeter could go to SÉPAQ.
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