The approximately 800 inhabitants of Courcelles in Estrie will soon become Beaucerons. The community is actually preparing to leave the MRC du Granit and join that of Beauce-Sartigan. A change that has been sought for “more than 25 years,” says Mayor Francis Bélanger.
Posted at 5:00 am.
“The first official request dates back to 1997. At that time, a transfer from the MRC required the MRC to agree that we would leave. Something that never suited the MRC du Granit, so it was clear that it would never agree. »
Do you leave your MRC to your neighbor? Until recently, this was a rare practice. Since 2010, only one has jumped the fence, Ministry of Municipal Affairs data shows. Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette in Outaouais moved from the MRC des Collines to the MRC de Papineau.
However, for the people of Courcell, who use many services there and have family there, it is “natural” to go to Beauce, argues the mayor. Therefore, a merger project was developed with a neighboring town of Beauceron, Saint-Évariste-de-Forsyth, which has almost 600 inhabitants.
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“What’s fun is that there is no dominant-dominated. Our strengths lie in public construction; Saint-Évariste is more administrative. There is a swimming pool in their community and we have an arena. We really complement each other. »
However, the transfer did not go like a letter by post.
At the Quebec Municipal Commission (CMQ) public hearings, the MRC du Granit and two business organizations strongly opposed this. And when Quebec gave the green light to the merger, Courcelles and the MRC du Granit needed an arbitrator to sort out the details of their separation.
Last year, a petition against the merger of nearly 320 names was also sent to the Office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs. However, since this was the case long before the CMQ’s review, it did not take this into account in its report, emphasizing that it was “not aware of the methodology nor the authenticity and reliability of the results” of this petition. “The Commission notes with some surprise the few opinions expressed during the hearings against the project,” the CMQ noted.
The combined commune will be called Courcelles-Saint-Évariste, but a consultation could be organized to find a new name. The two mayors will alternate the roles of mayor and deputy mayor until the 2025 elections.
Another marriage between two MRCs, that of the villages of Saint-Guy and Lac-des-Aigles in Bas-Saint-Laurent, recently received the blessing of the CMQ.
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The MRC des Basques, which refused to lose the 53 residents of Saint-Guy to the MRC of Témiscouata, had submitted a petition with 32 names. But here too, “only two petition signatories showed up at the public hearing,” the CMQ reported.
Pick up the “scratch.”
In Bas-Saint-Laurent, Trois-Pistoles and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges had considered merging in the early 2010s, but the former’s higher tax rate had frightened the latter.
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The current mayors have reopened the file and received help from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs in studying various scenarios, ranging from consolidation of services to full consolidation.
“We are really sincere. This time we have reached the end, there is no question of stopping along the way,” assures the mayor of Notre-Dame, Jean-Marie Dugas.
Like La Pocatière and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière (see other text), the two communities originally formed just one until Trois-Pistoles separated from Notre-Dame in 1916. “If you look at a map, we are As horseshoes, we go around Trois-Pistoles,” underlines Jean-Marie Dugas.
In winter, workers are forced to traverse sections of Trois-Pistoles without clearing the snow. “We have to increase the share because for insurance reasons we have no right if we don’t have an inter-municipal agreement. When we get home, we lower the snow plow and shovel the snow…”
Notre-Dame offers fewer services than its neighbor, has very little debt, and taxes its residents less ($1.06 per $100 of tax compared to $1.58 in Trois-Pistoles). Isn’t it risky to talk about getting closer?
“I didn’t see any unfavorable citizens. “I’m as surprised as you are,” replies Jean-Marie Dugas, laughing.
As a retired soldier, he witnessed the merger that created Gatineau more than 20 years ago. “We understand that it does not reduce the tax burden, but it could have a positive effect,” he said, mentioning the unification of services (general administration, urban planning, payroll, etc.) and access to certain subsidies.
More groups to follow?
Many other municipalities will consider mergers in the coming years, predicts the mayor of Courcelles.
“More and more things are being imposed on municipalities and they have no choice but to deal with it, so we have to find ways to get things done.” At the Federation of Quebec Municipalities conference last year there was a workshop on service groupings, and the hall was full! »
Saint-Alfred in Beauce could explore a grouping, possibly with Saint-Victor, but discussions are preliminary, the parish told us.
At least four community groups have launched official studies, and three others are awaiting final approval of their merger from Quebec.
Keep your identity
If there were residents who were unafraid of losing their identity, it was the Plessisvillois in Centre-du-Québec. The city and community of Plessisville, which have been separated for more than 160 years, will merge their approximately 9,500 residents on January 1st. We’ll let you guess the name of the new community. Last January, the villages of La Morandière and Rochebaucourt, which were already fighting for their survival in the 1975 documentary A Kingdom Waits for You by filmmaker Pierre Perrault, joined forces in Abitibi. The new village of La Morandière-Rochebaucourt has 345 inhabitants on almost 600 square kilometers.