Author name: Brenda O'Farrell The 1019 Report

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Fissures of division and disagreement among elected officials are cracking the surface at the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

And the mayor of the largest municipality in the territory, Guy Pilon of Vaudrueil-Dorion, says he will pry them wider by asking tough questions in public beginning later this month. He is going to start with attempting to find out the salary paid to the MRC’s prefect, Patrick Bousez, for 2024-2025. It is a piece of information Pilon has requested, but has been told he would have to make an access-to-information request to obtain.

“It’s landed at that,” Pilon said in frustration during an interview Monday.

In 2021, The 1019 Report requested the salaries paid to all elected officials in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region. Bousez earned $156,843 as prefect of the regional council at that time, in addition to his $25,290 annual salary as mayor of Rivière Beaudette, earning him a total of 182,133 and the distinction as the top-paid elected official in the region. It is not known what, if any, annual increases he has been allotted.

Bousez was not available for an interview with The 1019 Report.

The splintering of consensus at the regional authority – which rarely offers any public debate or discussion of the issues – emerged Nov. 4 during a special meeting of the 23 mayors who sit on the council. In a split vote, the council opted to hire a new director-general, fill three top administrative roles, create a new post and abolish two others.

These moves come about four months after the MRC council suspended its former long-time director-general, Guy-Lin Beaudoin, and ordered an internal investigation into what multiple sources at that time described as a series of issues. Days later, the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs announced it had assigned an official to act as an “observer” to review how the MRC manages its human resources. Then, days later, Beaudoin abruptly quit.

The MRC recently received notice that Municipal Affairs had completed its report, which has not yet been seen by elected officials, Pilon confirmed Monday.

Pilon, who voted against the motion to name Alexandre Lambert to the post of director-general, said his opposition stems from the council’s failure to conduct an open and competitive hiring process to fill the top administrator’s job.

“Would they do that in their own town?” Pilon said, referring to the mayors who supported the move.

“People don’t care at all,” he added, again referring to some of the mayors in the region.

Hudson Mayor Chloe Hutchison was one of seven mayors who voted against the hiring, a group of elected officials who represent 47 per cent of the MRC’s population. Her objection focused on the process to fill the position as well.

“It’s a big position,” Hutchison said, “why not look at who is available.”

Lambert, was first hired by the MRC in February of this year to the post of interim assistant director-general. He was named interim director-general in June, when Beaudoin was suspended.

During the Nov. 4 meeting, the MRC council also opted to abolish the positions of assistant director-general and director of human resources, while naming new people to the posts of director of the clerk’s office and clerk of the treasury; director of communications and social development; and director of finances and accounting, and assistant treasury clerk. It also created the new position – director of territorial planning. This position has not been filled.

St. Lazare Mayor Geneviève Lachance voted in favour of hiring Lambert.

“To me it was a clear and easy decision,” Lachance said in an interview Monday, explaining Lambert’s performance since first being hired by the MRC was proof he could meet the challenges of the position.

The MRC oversees land use plans for the region, waste management and civil protection services, as well as prepares valuation rolls for the towns and promotes regional economic development.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Water meters will begin to be required in all non-residential buildings in St. Lazare by next fall, according to a new bylaw set to be approved by council next month.

The move is the result of the municipality failing to meet water-usage targets set by the provincial government.

“It is being imposed on us to reduce consumption,” said St. Lazare Mayor Geneviève Lachance in an interview with The 1019 Report.

Eventually, all homes will have to be equipped with the devices to track their water use, she added. But for now, only 60 homes will be fitted with meters to provide municipal officials with a sampling of the level of individual household use in the residential sector. The selection of these homes will be on a voluntary basis, Lachance said.

In addition, according to the proposed bylaw, all new homes built after the bylaw is approved will have to be constructed “in anticipation of the installation of a meter,” the proposed bylaw states.

“The government requires this because we did not meet the objectives,” Lachance said, referring to the Rapport annuel sur la gestion de l’eau potable, which the provincial government issues outlining the levels of water usage within the town.

In 2022, the provincial report that looked at water consumption recorded in 2021 included a clear warning: “If the municipality exceeds one of the objectives in the 2021 balance sheet, the installation of water meters in all non-residential buildings (industries, shops and institutions), targeted mixed buildings, municipal buildings and on a sample of 60 residential buildings will be required progressively by Sept. 1, 2025,” the report stated.

Although measures to reduce water usage, like restricting the washing of driveways and banning car-wash fundraisers, and public awareness campaigns to encourage a reduction in usage have helped reduce the amount of water being consumed on a per-capita basis in the last few years, water use in the town remains above the provincial targets.

In the latest report available, issued in November 2023, water usage in 2022 in St. Lazare was estimated at 194 litres per person per day, 10 litres above the provincial target set at 184 litres.

In 2021, water use in the municipality was 211 litres per person per day, or 27 litres above the provincial target. That follows previous years of even higher water usage.

In 2020, water usage in St. Lazare was estimated at 224 litres per person per day. In 2019, it was 260 litres.

“We are using too much water,” Lachance said, explaining the issue is not strictly a function of water shortage, but of conservation.

Providing potable water is one of the most expensive services provided by the municipality, she said, adding provincial authorities are moving slowly toward imposing a “pay per use” model.

“We are pretty much going that way,” Lachance said, but stressed there is no estimated timeline for when water meters would be required in all homes.

St. Lazare is not the first municipality in Vaudreuil-Soulanges to impose water meters. Residents of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot are required to submit their water meter readings to the municipality every summer.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

For the second time this year, the Town of Hudson has fired its treasurer.

On Monday, less than two months after hiring Christian Fincu as the director of finance, the town’s municipal council terminated his employment.

“This is not what we were hoping for,” said Mayor Chloe Hutchison in response to a resident’s question about the dismissal.

Fincu, who’s hiring was confirmed by council Sept. 3, was still in his probationary period when he was let go on Oct. 28, based on a recommendation made to council by the municipality’s acting director-general.

Hutchison said the town is currently seeking reimbursement for training expenses paid to Fincu.

Fincu’s hiring in September came following a nine-month search after his predecessor was abruptly fired in January.

Hudson council terminated its previous director of finance, Mario Miller, at a special meeting on Jan. 23. No reason was given for the action. However, in a short public statement in February, Hutchison said the move was “not related to fraud, embezzlement or mismanagement of funds.” Miller had worked for the town for about a year.

Hudson launched a call for candidates to fill the treasurer’s post yesterday. A consultant hired by the town to mentor Fincu will act as interim treasurer on a part-time basis, Hutchison said.

The town’s 2023 financial report, which was due to be filed with the province on June 30, has not yet been completed. Hutchison said it is expected next month.

In the meantime, the town’s director-general, Marie-Jacinthe Roberge, continues to be on medical leave until at least Nov. 20.

Roberge has been off the job since August, on what was originally a three-week leave that has since been extended twice. She was hired in May 2023 as assistant director-general and promoted to director-general earlier this year.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Rigaud town council ratified the suspension of a top administrator last week for an indetermined period without pay and launched what it termed “an administrative investigation” that will outline next steps.

The move was the subject of a special meeting of council Oct. 30, where, in an awkward attempt to refrain from naming the individual, elected officials voted unanimously to uphold the decision taken Oct. 18 by Mayor Marie-Claude Frigault to suspend the official. Although the individual was not identified, council then proceeded to approve a list of four motions to strip the town’s director-general, Maxime Boissonneault, of a list of responsibilities, naming his assistant, Julie Rivard, as the person who will replace him as he is on an indefinite leave. Rivard was also named assistant treasurer, a title held by Boissonneault up until last week.

The meeting lasted about 15 minutes, with Frigault refusing to answer questions afterward, telling The 1019 Report she did not have time. When pushed for a comment, she retorted she works many hours and would prefer to spend any free moments with her family.

Rigaud’s director of communications, Geneviève Hamel, Monday refused to confirm that Boissonneault was the employee suspended, and said Frigault would not comment.

It is not known what triggered Frigault to suspend the official earlier in the month.

Council has hired consulting firm Relais Expert Conseil, a Montreal-based firm specializing in labour law and human resources issues, to carry out its review of the situation. Hamel said Monday that process has started, but could not confirm how long it would last or if it had been completed.

Bossonneault has been working for the town as its top administrator since August 2022. His arrival was part of a series of new hires in the wake of a spree of resignations at Rigaud town hall earlier that year, months after a new council, including the election of Frigault, took over.

From February to May 2022, 16 civil servants resigned, including many of the town’s top administrators – the director-general, the treasurer, the director of urbanism, the director of recreation and the director of human resources.

• Reporter Joshua Allan contributed to this report.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Residents of Hudson advocating for the preservation of Sandy Beach as a natural space packed the town’s council chamber on Monday night to express their hope to save the waterfront site from development. The public show of support comes in the wake of the owner of a lot in the area submitting a request to the town last month for a building permit.

Although the request to build a home on the property that fronts on Royalview Street and extends to the shores of the Lake of Two Mountains, including part of the beach area, was refused by Hudson council, the event sparked residents to push council to acquire the property. Residents fear the permit request could be resubmitted at any time, addressing the issues that prompted council to refuse the initial development plan.

In an open letter circulated among the ad hoc coalition known as the Save Sandy Beach group before Monday’s meeting, residents were urged to express their desire to save all of the area surrounding the forested wetlands.

“If we all attend, our combined voices will make it clear that the Sandy Beach complex, including the undeveloped lot, is vital to Hudson and should be preserved,” the note stated.

Several at the meeting expressed their support for the town to attempt to purchase the property, and asked council questions about its support for that option, inquiring whether it has sought grants to offset the cost of acquiring the land and whether it would endorse fundraising efforts initiated by community members.

In response, Hudson Mayor Chloe Hutchison said council is looking at not just the possibility of preserving the lot on Royalview Street, which is currently listed for sale for $1.5 million, but all three lots in the forested wetland area around the beach. The other lots are owned by Nicanco Holdings Ltd., a company that has been stalled by the provincial Environment Ministry in its attempts to move forward with a development plan that would include about 200 housing units at the site.

“We are evaluating this option,” Hutchison said, referring to a proposal to acquire all three lots. “Can we afford the whole set?”

To that end, council is awaiting a cost-benefits analysis it commissioned earlier this year to inform its proposal, which Hutchison said would eventually be put to a referendum, providing all taxpayers a say. The analysis is expected to be completed by mid-November.

Both the owners of the lot on Royalview and Nicanco have expressed a willingness to sell their properties to the town. In the case of Nicanco, the discussions mark the first time in recent years the company would consider the option of selling its lots.

But Hutchison warned all in attendance, the cost of the waterfront properties will be substantial. She would not disclose a figure, however.

“We’d be doubling our debt load,” she said.

Opting to acquire the properties, if that is the eventual choice residents support would have ramifications, Hutchison said, including limiting the town to do other things, explaining how past decisions that have involved long-term borrowing, like investments in the town’s sewer system and the development of Jack Layton Park, are still being paid for by taxpayers.

Members of the Save Sandy Beach group said they are in the process of creating a registered non-profit group to launch a private fundraising campaign with the aim to help finance the acquisition.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

A deal spearheaded by the Nature Conservancy of Canada will protect a six-hectare tract of land made up of woodlands and wetlands from development in perpetuity in Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, it was announced last week.

The forested natural space was acquired from private owners for $3.5 million.

Financed by a consortium of private agencies and three levels of government, the land will be part of the Boisé de la Pointe du Domaine nature park in the northeast corner of the island, which offers walking trails to the public.

“It’s a legacy for future generations,” said Notre Dame Mayor Danie Deschênes at a press conference last Friday. “It’s a big deal.”

“We are very proud to live in an area that is two-thirds woodland and farmland,” Deschênes added. “With the creation of the parc-nature and the acquisition of lots in Pointe du Domaine, we are continuing to promote access to nature for the whole of the Île Perrot community.”

The town is contributing only $150,000 toward the purchase, an amount Deschênes described as “pocket change” given the scope of the legacy that will be preserved, as the land will link a tract of parkland already owned by the town that will now stretch from the north to the south waterfronts of the Pointe de Domaine area.

The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, through its land acquisition fund, La Trame verte et bleue, kicked in $1.4 million, while the federal government pitched in $457,000; the provincial government added $299,000; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under the guise of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, provided $256,000; and the private Age of Union Fund headed by environmental activist Dax Dasilva, who is also the CEO of Montreal-based Lightspeed, an e-commerce software provider, contributed $6,000.

The acquisition adds to five hectares previously acquired by the Nature Conservancy of Canada in the same area in 2022 for just over $1 million, which also included $537,000 from the provincial government through its Projet de partenariat pour les milieux naturels; $462,000 from the federal government, through its Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, and funds from two private foundations – $41,000 from the Age of Union and $40,000 from Echo Foundation.

Vaudreuil-Soulanges MP Peter Schiefke who was on hand for the announcement last Friday said the purchase brings the federal government’s contribution to natural land acquisitions for preservation in Notre Dame to $920,000 in the last two years, and builds on its contributions towards natural space purchases in the area, which includes preserving more than 300 hectares on Mont Rigaud. Other acquisitions are also in the works for the region, he said. The federal government’s financing of green space acquisitions is a unique way the national government can help municipalities directly.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The recently released draft of the new Montreal regional flood map is raising alarm bells across the Greater Montreal area, but nowhere are they sounding louder than in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

The new map almost doubles the number of buildings identified as being in flood risk zones to just over 15,500 – this represents almost 20,000 households – potentially negatively affecting $9.9 billion in property values across the vast territory that is the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal. But about $2 billion worth of that property is located in Vaudreuil-Dorion, says the city’s mayor Guy Pilon.

“It’s major, major for us,” said Pilon in an interview last week with The 1019 Report.

The draft map, which was unveiled Sept. 30, includes a wide swath of properties along the various waterfronts in the CMM’s territory, which includes 82 municipalities on and around the island of Montreal.

In Vaudreuil-Dorion, it now includes areas that encompass not only houses, but schools, municipal water filtrations plants and the entire Cité des Jeunes campus along  St. Charles Avenue.

“Everyone is in a panic,” Pilon said, referring to owners of properties affected by the new flood zone.

The map is based on what that CMM refers to as the “new regulatory framework” that reflects the guidelines dictated by provincial authorities.

Pilon said the impact on his city – about $2 billion – just doesn’t make sense.

Since the draft was unveiled Pilon has been receiving phone calls from homeowners who are slated to possibly be included in zones of flood risk.

Anyone who has a mortgage due for renewal is worried, Pilon said, as he blasted both the CMM and provincial authorities for how the redrawing of the flood zones is being handled. Some homeowners want to know if their mortgages will be cancelled if they cannot get insurance, while others worry that they will be left holding mortgages that end up being much larger than what their properties will be worth.

Pilon said his city is preparing a memorandum to send to the regional authority, and has already spoken to Quebec Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest, explaining how not only homeowners will be affected but how any drop in property values will affect municipal taxation revenues.

“This is high-level stupidity,” Pilon said of how the redrawing of the map was done without consulting affected municipalities.

If the map is ratified and comes into force next spring, Pilon has suggested that the province establish a new insurance fund for homeowners, similar to its no-fault insurance program for drivers. In this way, owners of properties that will be added to the widening flood zone will be able to obtain insurance coverage in order to protect their assets and secure mortgage renewals and approvals.

The proposed draft of the map is based on guidelines set out by the province. In June public consultations were launched on the map, which includes four zones of flood risk – from low to moderate, to high and very high risk. In unveiling the map, the CMM also released a memo that calls on the provincial government to change its flood-management regulations, which outline what can or cannot be built in the various flood zones as well as what types of renovations property owners in those zones can undertake.

Among the changes the CMM is calling for is a reassessment of the standards of how a residential building can be changed in order to provide greater flexibility, in particular in moderate- and high-risk zones. The regional authority is also calling for the creation of management plans for flood-prone areas.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s announcement last week of its $500,000 pledge to help acquire 28 acres of woodland in Vaudreuil sur le Lac is the latest grant in its growing list of financial aid to help preserve undeveloped spaces in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area.

Next week, that list will get a little bit longer, as the organization is set to unveil another grant to acquire a woodland in the Pointe du Domaine area of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, located in the northeastern tip of the island of Île Perrot.

The details of the financial aid for the parcel of forested land in Notre Dame will be unveiled Oct. 11, including the size of the tract of land that will be acquired.

All that is known as of this week is that the deal includes a collection of partners, including the town of Notre Dame; the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal’s greenspace preservation fund, the Trame Verte et bleue; both the federal and provincial governments; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the auspices of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act; the Age of Union foundation, a conservation agency founded by Canadian tech entrepreneur Dax Dasilva; and the Echo Foundation, a private Montreal-based charity that provides environment grants to support the protection of natural spaces of ecological importance in eastern Canada.

Both recent grants for forested wetlands in Vaudreuil sur le Lac and Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot are perfect examples of preservation projects pushed forward by municipal councils that the Nature Conservancy is proud to support, said Joë Bonin, the vice-president of development for the Nature Conservancy in Quebec, in an interview with The 1019 Report last week.

The national preservation foundation is keenly aware of all the areas highlighted by the CMM in 2022 when the regional authority imposed a development freeze on several tracts of land. The Nature Conservancy, Bonin said, aims to protect as much land deemed to have ecological value, and is committed to preserving areas in and around the Lake of Two Mountains and the Ottawa River.

Since the early 2000s, the Nature Conservancy has signed about 50 grant agreements with groups and municipalities, including several in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area. These grants include support for purchases of land on Île Claude, on Mont Rigaud, at the site of Le Nichoir bird sanctuary in Hudson and a private land trust in Hudson known as Creek 53, which preserved a 250-hectare ­territory – or more than 600 acres – of wetlands, field, meadows and woodlands in the west end of the municipality.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The town of Vaudreuil sur le Lac has struck a deal to buy more than half of a 50.5-acre forest residents have long been pushing to save from development, putting together a financing plan that will see grants cover two-thirds of the $2.8-million price tag for the land.

Before a packed house at town hall last Wednesday evening, the proposal was outlined to residents for the first time. The plan to purchase 28 acres of woodland owned by Planimax D.S.F. Inc. includes a $1.34-million subsidy from the Commaunauté métropolitaine de Montréal and a $500,000 grant from the Nature Conservancy of Canada, leaving less than $1 million for taxpayers to shoulder.

And without wasting any time, the town’s municipal council will tonight take the next step by adopting a loan bylaw for $961,500 to cover its share. The expenditure, according to municipal officials, represents an annual increase in taxes of $165 per year for the owners of an average house in the municipality, which is valued at $547,000. This estimate, based on a 30-year amortization period, is the worse-case scenario, according to town consultant Jean-François Vachon, as it has been calculated using a 5-per-cent interest rate. If interest rates continue to fall, the cost of the loan will drop as well, Vachon said.

Vaudreuil sur le Lac has only 1,361 residents and 494 private dwellings, according to the 2021 Census.

“It’s the best offer that can be presented to citizens,” said resident Geneviève Roy, a spokesperson for the Regroupement pour la protection du Boisé de Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, a grassroots group that has been lobbying for the preservation of the woodland.

Roy said she is optimistic taxpayers in the little town will support the deal.

“There is a value for citizens, not just of Vaudreuil sur le Lac, but for the Montérégie,” Roy added, pointing to the ecological value and the importance of preserving biodiversity in the region.

“This is a real opportunity,” said Mayor Mario Tremblay in an interview on Monday, pointing out that the woods will be preserved in perpetuity. “We are convinced this project is positive for everyone.”

The remaining portion of the forest – 22.5 acres – is currently owned by a family and is not under immediate threat of development, Tremblay said last Wednesday evening. But the long-range plan would be for the town to acquire that land as well, he said.

In an interview with The 1019 Report last weekend, Roy said her group continues to lobby for the protection of the remaining part of the forest, but explained that given the fact that much of that section of the forest is wetlands, the current owner cannot develop much of it.

Once council adopts the loan bylaw tonight, the town will hold a register, providing citizens who are against the expenditure to voice their opposition. If enough residents sign the register, the town would be forced to either withdraw the loan bylaw or hold a referendum on the issue. Although no exact date has been set as of yesterday, a register would be held some time this month, town officials said. Tremblay said it would take slightly more than 100 signatures on the register to force the issue to a town-wide vote.

Although the town is moving quickly after having struck a deal with one of the two owners of the forest, the fate of the woodland, one of the last undeveloped areas in the municipality, has been on the public’s radar for almost two decades.

According to the town’s last urban development plan adopted in 2007, the tract of land was slated for residential development, with zoning bylaws permitting it to be subdivided into about 45 lots for single-family homes.

In 2016, the town approved a conservation plan aimed at protecting wetlands within its territory. This plan identified part of the woodland as having a high ecological value as it contained wetlands and old-growth trees.

The following year, the council, which represented the previous administration, adopted a development freeze on the forest, putting on hold any subdivision and construction in the area.

In 2020, a group of citizens advocating for the preservation of the forest began lobbying to save the woodland, which has several walking trails that are enjoyed by many residents.

In October of 2021, the current council submitted a request for funding to the CMM’s greenspace preservation fund known as the Trame Verte et bleue to help finance the acquisition of the land.

Then, in April 2022, the CMM imposed its own interim control bylaw that put a stop to all construction projects on a vast tapestry of undeveloped spaces across its territory in the Greater Montreal region, including the forest in Vaudreuil sur le Lac and other areas in Vaudrueil-Soulanges, like the area surrounding Sandy Beach on the shores of the Lake of Two Mountains in Hudson.

In July 2022, Planimax D.S.F. filed a lawsuit against the CMM over the development freeze, naming the town as a party to the action. But the company agreed to put its legal action on hold in early 2023 pending negotiations with the town to see if a deal to sell the land could be struck.

In January 2024, Planimax offered to sell its holdings to the town. And in June a deal was agreed upon.

The fate of the deal now rests with the town’s taxpayers, who will decide if they support the plan put together to acquire the forest. If they support it, the deal is expected to be finalized in early 2025.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The town of Hudson has denied The 1019 Report’s access-to-information request seeking the amount the municipality has paid in legal fees related to its interactions with a resident at the centre of a 10-year fight over a fence.

Citing a section of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and three sections of the provincial Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information, the town refused a request for the amounts it has dispersed in legal fees between 2014 and August 2024 in the decade-old fight with resident Trevor Smith, who last month was refused a minor derogation to allow the six-foot wooden fence that runs the width of his property in front of his house on Côte St. Charles to stand. According to town bylaws, a fence along the front of a property cannot be more than four feet in height.

In a three-page letter sent to The 1019 Report last week, assistant town clerk Renée Huneault pointed to Section 9 of the charter of rights that claims “every person has a right to non-disclosure of confidential information.”

This despite the fact that every month, Hudson council approves a list of expenditures, including legal fees that are listed by specific amounts paid to a variety of legal firms with each payment broken down by file number.

The letter goes on to state, ironically: “The information contained in the list of payments approved by the council is the only information that we can disclose.”

In response, The 1019 Report filed a second request with the town last week asking for the list of payments made to legal firms for the same 10-year period, from January 2014 to Sept. 1, 2024, as presented at the monthly meetings on the “Liste de paiements,” which council approves, that includes a breakdown of the amounts for each firm identified by its file number.

The 1019 Report has also filed a request to have the town’s denial of its original request reviewed by the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec.

The town also denied the newspaper’s request to know how many fines Smith has been issued between 2014, when the fence was installed, and August 2024, and how much these fines totalled.

The battle over the fence dates back to 2014, when Smith install a six-foot-high wooden privacy fence across the front of his property after claiming snow-clearing operations and the excessive use of salt on the roads in winter damaged the 18-foot cedar hedge that acted as a visual barrier between his house and the street.

The situation has resulted in municipal fines issued to Smith, who, in turn, filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court, which he lost and subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the original judgment. Now, the battle appears poised to continue if not escalate, as the homeowner last week filed a complaint with the Commission Municipal du Québec and claims to be preparing to seek leave to have his case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the wake of being denied a minor derogation that would allow his fence to stay in place.

In the meantime, the town is weighing its option to proceed with a court-backed mandate to remove the fence.

Smith had previously filed two other complaints over the fence – one with the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges claiming discrimination and denial of his rights, and another separate complaint with the CMQ.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The Île aux Tourtes Bridge will be closed in both directions again this coming weekend.

The span will close completely in both directions at midnight the night of Friday, Sept. 20, and reopen in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 23.

This is the second full-weekend closure of the bridge so far this month. The span was closed two weekends ago, from Friday, Sept. 6, to Monday, Sept. 9.

The closures are deemed necessary to advance work in the installation of steel structures under a portion of the east end of the bridge. These structures are designed to provide additional support to the span.

To accommodate this phase of the work, crews will be extending two jetties into the lake from the eastern shores in Senneville. These jetties have been serving as work areas, allowing workers to install piles. The new steel structures will eventually rest on the piles and provide additional support for the old bridge’s main beams.

Once the steel structures are in place, Transport Quebec said it may be able to open more lanes across the span. No timeline for that, however, has been put forward.

Earlier this summer, work to build the jetties forced Transport Quebec to bring in a team of biologists to relocated more than 33,000 freshwater mussels from the site. It is believed that this move is a first for a construction site in the province given its scope.

The mussels that inhabit the floor of the Lake of Two Mountains were deemed to be at risk of being crushed by the construction of the jetties.

The mussels, which can live up to 30 years, are considered an endangered species that mature slowly, thus making them slower to reproduce. If the mussels had not been moved, biologists believe it would have taken decades for the population in the lake to recover.

The mussels were moved to another areas in the lake, away from the construction zone.

Transport Quebec has committed that the mussels in the Lake of Two Mountains will be observed until 2026 to ensure their survival.

Since the beginning of 2024, the bridge has seen five complete closures in both directions, including the weekend shutdown two weeks ago.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

In its ongoing efforts to foster support for the merger of the towns on Île Perrot, representatives of the grassroots group Avenir Île Perrot – Becoming Île Perrot began meeting with elected officials on the island this week to gauge support for municipal fusion.

The members of the group met with the municipal council of Pincourt on Monday, the first of what the group’s representatives are hoping will be a series of sessions with the elected delegations in Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, L’Île Perrot and Terrasse Vaudreuil. The goal is to outline the group’s objective and seek the support of the councillors and mayors of all four towns to request the provincial government conduct a feasibility study that will outline the pros and cons of merging.

The group has scheduled meetings with the councils of L’Île Perrot and Terrasse Vaudreuil and is awaiting confirmation from Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot.

“The goal of the meeting with the councils and mayors is to have them say it’s a good idea to do a study,” said Avenir Île Perrot – Becoming Île Perrot spokesman Gérard Farmer.

According to Farmer, the provincial Municipal Affairs Ministry would conduct the study at no cost to the towns. It would outline the economic impacts of consolidating the administrations of the four towns and well as the service implications, both in the short and long term, and the significance on cultural, sporting and leisure services that could be offered to residents into the future.

“There would be no loss of jobs,” Farmer said, explaining the framework of any eventual merger would not result in layoffs. Municipal workforces, he added, could be reorganized, with some personnel possibly reassigned.

The most important next step, Farmer said, is to conduct the feasibility study so that both elected officials and residents can make an informed decision.

Once the study would be completed, the findings would be shared publicly, he said.

The group is hoping that all four municipalities will come together to formally ask Quebec to conduct the study. The group cannot request the move without the support of the elected councils. The study does not commit the municipalities to an eventual merger, Farmer stressed. It is merely a diagnostic tool to see if enough benefit exists in the concept of municipal fusion. The study would take up to three months to complete, he added.

“If the towns do not ask for the study, we will not have a study,” Farmer continue, adding that it would be reckless to not take advantage of what the provincial government is offering.

“We can’t say we don’t want to know. That is not good management,” he said.

If the four towns on Île Perrot merged, the new entity would be the second largest municipality in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region, with a population of about 40,600, only slightly smaller than Vaudreuil-Dorion. The new town would be the 35^th largest municipality in Quebec and the fourth largest in the greater Suroît region, which includes Valleyfield, Châteauguay and Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

The new municipality would be better able to afford to build venues like arenas and cultural event spaces, the group contends, and give residents of the island more clout within the MRC of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the larger Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal and with the provincial government, which provides a number of grants and subsidies for municipal projects, many of which are prioritized based, in part, on the number of residents these projects will benefit.

Avenir Île Perrot – Becoming Île Perrot was formed earlier this year, created by a group of residents who believe that the time has come to launch a public conversation about creating a shared vision of how the island should be development and provide a broad range of cultural and sports services to its growing population.

In 1854, the island of Île Perrot consisted of one municipality, the group points out. In the middle of the last century, from 1948 to 1958, it was divided into five municipalities. In 1984, that dropped to four with the merger of the towns of Pointe du Moulin with the parish of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot.

The 1019 Report

After an almost nine-month search, the town of Hudson earlier this month hired a new treasurer. But as that key administrative post is finally filled, town hall continues to operate with a musical-chairs-type of approach to staffing as its director-general has extended her medical leave.

The hiring of Cristian Frincu as director of finance was confirmed by council Sept. 3. Among his first tasks will be to finalize the municipality’s finance report for 2023, which was due to be submitted to the provincial government by June 30. So far, no timeline has been offered as to when Hudson will file its financial report.

Frincu will be helped by what municipal officials are calling a coach, a consultant contracted last month to support his integration into the administration. The move was deemed necessary as Frincu lacks experience in the municipal field. His experience stems from a variety of posts in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Hudson’s director-general, Marie-Jacinthe Roberge, has extended her medical leave, and is not expected to return to work until the end of September.

Roberge’s sudden leave of absence last month, prompted council to name an interim director-general. Veteran municipal administrator Martin Houde, who was first contracted by Hudson in September 2022 on a temporary basis to serve as interim director-general, resumed the role in August, when Roberge took a three-week leave. That leave has now been extended to Sept. 27, Mayor Chloe Hutchison confirmed Monday.

Roberge was hired by the town in May 2023 as assistant director-general. Although she lacked experience as a top municipal administrator, Houde’s contract as interim-director-general was extended at that time to assist the transition. Earlier this year, Roberge was promoted to director-general, prompting Houde to take a step back. But council opted to extend him a new contract as special projects co-ordinator on a part-time basis.

Last month, when Houde was tapped to take on the role as interim director-general, he also assumed the role of interim treasurer. Although he now relinquished his responsibilities as interim treasurer, he will continue as interim director-general on a part-time basis.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The town of Hudsonhas extended the deadline to The 1019 Report’s access-to-information request submitted last month seeking the amount the municipality has spent in legal fees in its dispute with resident Trevor Smith since 2014, when the barrier was built.

On Monday, one day before the deadline for the town to respond to the access-to-information request, in a notice from assistant town clerk Renée Huneault, the town invoked its option to extend the deadline by an additional 10 days to provide the information.

The town has been involved in civil litigation for several years, as the case was brought to municipal court and made its way through the Superior Court of Quebec and the Court of Appeals, where judgments were issued in 2022, upholding the town’s stance that the fence contravened its bylaws. An order giving the town permission to remove the fence was issued as part of the judgments.

Smith has also filed complaints over the years with the Commission municipal du Québec and the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges. He filed a second complaint to the CMQ last week.

At a council meeting on Sept. 3, Smith stated that so far the dispute has cost him about $80,000. He then vowed to continue his court battles with the town.

Ironically, in a judgment in July 2022 that rejected Smith’s request for an exemption that would have allowed him to keep the fence, Superior Court Justice Christian J. Brossard cited references made by the plaintiff that he did not have the estimated $5,000 it would cost to replace the hedge that he claimed had been damaged by the town that led him to install the fence.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

In an unexpected and frustration-fuelled move, councillor Doug Smith abruptly walked out of the Sept. 3 Hudson council meeting claiming he had lost faith in the leadership of the town’s elected officials after casting the only dissenting vote against a resolution to deny a minor derogation to a resident seeking to maintain a six-foot fence along the front of his property on Côte St. Charles.

“I have lost faith in the leadership in this council,” Smith said as we walked out of the meeting immediately after the vote that denied the derogation request.

“I am beyond disappointed and I am beyond frustrated,” he explained.

In an interview with The 1019 Report this week, Smith elaborated: “It’s gone on too long. It’s cost too much money. At a certain point we need to say to our lawyers: ‘How do we end this?’”

Describing the situation involving the stand-off with homeowner Trevor Smith, who is not related to the councillor, as a “legal boondoggle,” Doug Smith expressed frustration that the current council is the third municipal administration that has been dealing with this situation, which first began in November 2014.

The saga was triggered when Trevor Smith opted to install a six-foot-high wooden privacy fence across the front of his property after claiming snow-clearing operations and the excessive use of salt on the roads in winter damaged the 18-foot cedar hedge that acted as a visual barrier between his house and the street. According to the town bylaws, a fence along the front of a property cannot be more than four feet high.

The situation has resulted in municipal fines issued to the Trevor Smith, who, in turn, filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court, which he lost and subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the original judgment. Now, the battle appears poised to continue if not escalate, as the homeowner last week filed a complaint with the Commission Municipal du Québec and claims to be preparing to seek leave to have his case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the wake of being a denied a minor derogation that would allow his fence to stay in place.

In the meantime, the town is weighing its option on if and when it will proceed with a court-backed mandate to remove the fence.

When asked on Sept. 3 if the town would remove his fence, Mayor Chloe Hutchison said: “It’s possible.”

“We will send him a letter and give him the options again that are available to him,” Hutchison explained. She refused to elaborate on what those options are when asked by a resident.

“I walked out (of the meeting) because the others in the room are content in continuing,” councillor Doug Smith said. “I think I stand alone to say this needs to stop.”

“Whatever the lawyer tells us to do, we’re going to do,” Doug Smith said, explaining how the municipality is handling the situation. “It’s not us telling the lawyer what to do.”

“How do we make this a win-win?” he continued. “But there doesn’t seem to be a willingness.”

Councillor Smith said part of the problem is that all councillors never get to debate the issues.

“The council as a whole never sits down as a whole to discuss this,” he said, explaining that the mayor has excluded him from attending caucus meetings, while other councillors are regularly absent.

He added: “How much has this actually cost the taxpayer? I am scared to know this. And we have to be accountable for that.”

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Like a bell that signals the start of a new round in a long, drawn-out grudge match, Hudson town council earlier this month set the scene for what all indications point to an escalation in a decade-old fight over a fence, with the homeowner at the centre of it this week vowing to seek leave to have his case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

“It’s going to the Supreme Court,” said homeowner Trevor Smith in an interview with The 1019 Report. “This is not over. It can’t be.”

Smith is digging in and vowing to continue a costly court battle against the town after Hudson council on Sept. 3 denied his request for a minor derogation to allow the six-foot wooden fence that runs the width of his property in front of his house on Côte St. Charles to stand. According to town bylaws, a fence along the front of a property cannot be more than four feet in height.

“This has not been an easy file for us,” said Hudson Mayor Chloe Hutchison just minutes before council voted to deny Smith’s derogation request.

“It’s unfortunate Mr. Smith did not bring this request for a six-foot fence as a minor derogation request before his fence was built,” Hutchison said, referring to 2014, when the privacy barrier was installed.

“It is clear Mr. Smith was in clear knowledge of the bylaws and the requirements of the bylaws before he built the fence,” Hutchinson said after the vote. “He knowingly knew he was crossing and not respecting the bylaw.”

Before council voted on the matter, several residents and no fewer than three former Hudson councillors – members of the past two administrations who had also dealt with this issue – urged the present council to grant the derogation and end the fight that has cost the town an unknown amount in legal fees.

With the standoff between the town and the homeowner described by some who spoke at the Sept. 3 meeting as  “silly,” “non-sensical” and “a comedy of errors,” the present council was urged to end the fight and let the fence stand.

“The town does accept all kinds of derogations,” said former councillor Helen Kurgansky. “We do it every single month practically. We give derogations for valid reasons. Trevor Smith had a valid reason to have that extra two feet of fence, except that they escalated – the laws, the lawyers, discussion, arguments – until it got out of control, and here we are 10 years later.”

“This is a time to have le gros bon sens – good judgment,” Kurgansky continued. “Let’s stop wasting our money, our energies.”

Last week, in the wake of the denial of the derogation, Smith filed a complaint with the Commission municipal du Québec, a quasi-judicial body that oversees municipal matters in the province.

The complaint focuses on the resolution adopted by Hudson council on Sept. 3 that denies his derogation request to permit his six-foot fence that was based on five criteria that was considered in reaching that decision. Specifically, Smith highlights the criteria that claims: “If the minor exemption request concerns work in progress or already carried out, a building permit must have been issued and the work must have been carried out in good faith.”

Smith’s complaint to the CMQ claims that in 2014 no building permit was required by the town to build a fence, and that in reference to good faith, “no judge ever decided that I had not acted in good faith – there was only a comment that it would be difficult for me to prove good faith.”

Smith had previously filed two other complaints over the fence – one with the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges, claiming discrimination and denial of his rights, and another separate complaint with the CMQ.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The Île aux Tourtes Bridge will be closed in both directions again this weekend, in what will be the first of two weekend closures of the span in September, Transport Quebec officials have confirmed.

The bridge will be closed in both directions as of midnight the night of Friday, Sept. 6, and reopen in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 9.

The span will close completely again at midnight the night of Friday, Sept. 20, and reopen in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 23.

These moves come following last weekend’s three-day closure of Exit 41 along the eastbound lanes of Highway 40, that leads to Des Anciens Combattants Blvd. in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. This closure was mandated to carry out work on the drainage capacity that is part of the construction of the new span.

In June, Transport Quebec officials announced it would start installing a steel structure under a portion of the east end of the bridge to provide additional support to the structure.

The work, which is planned to continue into the winter of 2024, is described by government officials as providing “increased security for the structure,” and deemed necessary to limit the risk of additional lane closures on the span.

The streel structures will remain in place until the old bridge is town down, Transport Quebec stated in a release in June.

The work would also include setting up two jetties by the old bridge near the eastern shore in Senneville that would serve as a work area, allowing workers to install piles. The new steel structure would then rest on the piles and provide additional support for the old bridge’s main beams.

“Work to reinforce the beams in the centre of the bridge continues,” Transport Quebec said in a statement.

Transport Quebec “continues to make every effort to open lanes on the current bridge by the end of the fall 2024,” officials said, adding to the current three open lanes on the span on most days, with two lanes in the direction of rush-hour traffic and one lane in the opposite direction.

No specific timeline on the opening of additional lanes is available.

Nine closures since January

Since the beginning of 2024, the bridge has seen four complete closures in both directions, including two overnight shutdowns in January and May, and two weekend shutdowns, in March and May, according to information The 1019 Report has obtained from Transport Quebec.

The span has also been subject to five additional partial closures since January, including three overnight closures of the eastbound lanes, at the end of January and twice in May; and two overnight shutdowns of the westbound lanes, in March and April.

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

The town of St. Lazare’s campaign to sensitize residents to respect rules and regulations launched earlier this year has attracted a limited online audience.

The campaign, which produced four 20- to 40-second videos, cost taxpayers more than $12,000. Three of them feature Québécois actor Richard Fréchette, who plays a fictional character known as “Monsieur Lazare.” The character is a “grumpy citizen,” according to the municipality’s own description, “an egotistical man in his 60s” who thinks he does not have to respect municipal regulations.

The short videos were produced by YouTube comedic filmmaker Thomas Bédard.

The videos have received only 348 to 454 views each on the town’s channel on the video platform. They are only in French.

City officials claim they created the Monsieur Lazare character and videos “to promote responsible behaviour for the collective good.”

The videos advocate for the responsible use of potable water by not cleaning your driveway by hosing it down, adhering to posted speed limits on the streets, treating personnel at detour points caused by roadwork with respect and reducing the use of pesticides on lawns.

“The short stories created with Monsieur Lazare are based on anecdotes experienced by Ville de St. Lazare employees,” the town claims in a statement.

Fréchette, who is more widely known in the French-speaking community having starred in the popular TV show La Petite Vie on Radio-Canada in the 1990s, billed the city $862 for his appearances, while Bédard charged just over $11,000 to produce the four videos, including $2,750 for other actors and $800 for a make-up artist, according to information obtained from the town by The 1019 Report.

Municipal officials have not announced whether more videos in the series will be produced.