Ruby Pratka

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

When the BCN caught up with Brigham Mayor Steven Neil for a belated 2024 year-end interview on Jan. 6, Neil took the opportunity to announce the lifting of a boil-water advisory in the Guay sector. The town replaced the aging, convoluted pipe system under the 22-home residential development in September with help from a provincial program.

“As of today, at least in theory, everyone is on the new system,” Neil said. “There is no boil-water advisory in effect for the first time since 2007. I’m very glad to get that off our plate.”

Alongside the water network situation, Neil said the town’s biggest challenge over the past year was maintaining its extensive road network. “Having such a big municipality in terms of kilometres of road, finding people who could do the job at a cost we could afford was a challenge. Because we were redoing the water network in the Guay sector, our staff spent a lot of time dealing with contractors when they would have been doing other things. That stretched our resources a little thin, and we weren’t able to do some other things we wanted to do.”

“Over the past few years, we have been doing the minimum in terms of road work because of a lack of availability of staff and entrepreneurs,” he said. “We’ve been behind the curve ever since COVID, because we lost employees and it was hard to [recruit] an inspector. We now have the staff available to do what we are behind on.”

In the coming year, the municipality plans to move forward with the maintenance of wooded areas along local roads, digging ditches, chopping brush and paving work. To finance the road work, the residential tax rate will be raised by one cent per $100 of assessed value and the agricultural rate by three cents. “We needed the extra revenue to do more work than we usually do,” he said. Road work and other transportation-related expenses make up 45 per cent of the planned expenditures on the 2025 budget.

Other major expenses include increased snow removal costs and training for the town’s newly hired building inspector. The town also plans to carry out extensive lighting and road studies, with a view to replacing street lights with LED lights and creating a detailed bylaw listing the town’s roads and speed limits, “so if there is a modification or if the police need to know something, they have one document to check.”

Neil was first elected mayor of Brigham in 1999 and served until 2013. He decided not to run in 2013, but returned to office in 2017 and has led the town of about 2,450 people ever since. In 2023, he said he didn’t plan to run again. “I told people over a year ago that I was leaving – this is a preparatory budget for a new council to come in.”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

West Bolton will take a “transitional” budget into 2025, Mayor Denis Vaillancourt told the BCN in a 2024 year-end interview.

“Our biggest challenge over the past year was recruitment – we had a road work co-ordinator who went on sick leave, we had the resignation of our urban planner and our director general, but with the recruitment of Monique Pépin as interim DG and secretary-treasurer, and with help from the Fédération québécoise des municipalités, we were able to put together a [2025] budget that responded to our needs,” he said.

Vaillancourt said the average West Bolton homeowner would see their tax bill rise by about three per cent, despite a decrease in the base tax rate from 36 cents per $100 of assessed value to 37.17 cents per $100. MRC service fees and waste management fees will also rise slightly, from $34 to $36.87 and from $195.00 to $205.00 respectively. “The general tax, public safety and utility costs are things we have no control over. For example, snow removal went up by 21 per cent – there are services we need that we don’t have control over,” the mayor said. 

The infrastructure plan for the coming year is centered around road repairs and renovations to the town hall. “The big projects will move forward only if we get grants,” Vaillancourt said. “We have road work [planned] on some roads that need serious repairs that we have to get done at some point.” Major projects include repairs to a number of culverts, extensive work on Chemin Stagecoach and Chemin Spicer and added signage to reflect reduced speed limits. The town also plans to conduct a septic tank inventory with a view to organizing a municipal septic tank inventory and laying the groundwork for a standardized septic waste collection system.

The current town hall is in a converted school, and it’s “very, very small” for the municipality’s present-day needs, said the mayor. Vaillancourt said no decision had yet been made on whether to build a new town hall or expand the current one. “We had a public consultation in April [2024] and we said that one of the first things we should do is make an offer on some adjacent land,” he said. “Because that land is zoned agricultural, we have to go through the Quebec agricultural protection commission. That request was sent to the MRC and we were hoping to have a response before the holidays, but our file was stuck in the mail – that should work itself out. The next step would be to apply for a grant for renovations, and we would have to have a public consultation period. Nothing is decided yet.”

Vaillancourt also said he hadn’t yet decided whether to seek a second term as mayor in this fall’s elections.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The fate of the Villa Châteauneuf in Sutton will come before a judge in Cowansville on Jan. 28.

The former convent and religious retreat centre, run for decades by the Catholic Church-affiliated Foyers de la Charité, has sat empty since September 2023, after the church shut down the Foyers de la Charité network. The nonprofit which currently oversees the Villa, Villa Châteauneuf Inc., hopes to rent it out to La Passerelle, a Montérégie-based nonprofit which operates a centre for women dealing with substance abuse. Sutton Mayor Robert Benoit has previously announced the town’s intention to use its right of preemption to take the facility over and use it as a community centre. The diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe has also signalled its intention to get involved in the case, alleging that the nonprofit does not have a legitimate right to control the building.

Lawyer Benoit Chabot of Chabot Delorme represents Villa Châteauneuf. He plans to ask the court to grant a temporary occupancy permit so that La Passerelle can use the 25-acre property while other legal questions surrounding its fate and the diocese’s involvement are resolved. “There are many things that can delay the trial; it can take two years or more [before a final verdict is reached].” He says that if the building stays unoccupied during that time, it’s likely to become uninsurable. “We want the building to be occupied to minimize the prejudice [to the building].” Chabot said he hopes the permit will be granted in the days following the hearing, to allow La Passerelle to move its operations to the villa as soon as possible.

“All the criteria [for the granting of an occupancy permit] are met — the request has been filled out, the payment has been made, the fire safety and security verifications have been made,” he added. “The town’s lawyer said there was no other reason to refuse the permit other than the opposition of the diocese.”

In November, the diocese formally requested to be party to the case, despite an earlier indication from the papal delegate of the Foyers de la Charité that the Catholic Church would not intervene. The diocese also sent a mise en demeure to the town of Sutton, asking it not to grant the occupancy permit. Chabot did not go into detail about the diocese’s concerns about the nonprofit’s legitimacy. “We obviously believe [those concerns] are unfounded,” he said. The BCN was unable to reach a representative of the Diocese of St-Hyacinthe before press time despite repeated attempts.

Villa Châteauneuf vice president Victor Marchand said he hoped the judge would grant the temporary permit quickly, although “it’s his prerogative to take the time he needs.”

“If La Passerelle can’t move in and occupy the building, there are a lot of things at stake – insurability, maintenance, heating. If we don’t get revenue at some point in a relatively short period of time, we won’t be able to maintain it … this will determine for months and possibly years to come what we’ll be able to do with the place,” he said.

The town of Sutton and its lawyer declined to comment on the case. La Passerelle executive director Amélie Lemieux was unavailable for comment.

Photo courtesy of Francois Couture

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

A Brigham vineyard has become the first vineyard in Quebec and the second in Canada to receive a certification from the U.S.-based Regenerative Organic Alliance. The certification goes beyond organic certification to assess not only a winery or farm’s crop-growing and pest control methods, but its wider environmental and social impact.

Winemaker Simon Naud took over the Vignoble de la Bauge from his parents, Alcide and Ghislaine Naud, in 1996. At the time, organic methods were not yet used there. “I was working to understand the wine and the terroir and gain our name recognition; I just wanted to produce the best wine we could at the best price. It wasn’t until later [in 2016] that I went organic,” Naud said.

As part of the organic certification process, Naud did away with chemical fertilizers on his land. Amid growing public awareness of the climate emergency, he realized he didn’t want to stop there. “Going organic is a big step, but just because we weren’t using chemicals, it doesn’t mean we were acting in the best interests of the planet,” he said. “We were using the tractor more, using gas more. We wanted to take things further and minimize our impact on the planet.”

He explained that switching to regenerative agriculture involved three major “axes” – fertilizing his vines with natural compost, encouraging biodiversity and putting more emphasis on community contributions. An independent auditor takes periodic soil samples, which are tested for “soil vitality.” The vineyard has acquired a herd of sheep to make a dent in excess vegetation and provide natural fertilizer, and installed nest boxes and begun growing berry bushes to attract birds, which eat insects. Naud also welcomes apprentice winemakers and soil scientists who want to work on research and development projects.

“We planted a biodiversity research patch – two rows of grapes and one row of berries … it creates disease barriers and you have other fruits you can ferment and produce other things with, where you can flavour the wine; that’s something I want to do,” he said. “I’ve found that people are keen to work with me and rethink agriculture together – botanists, wine lovers and urban farming experts. I enjoy talking to people, hearing what they have to say, seeing the birds in the spring and the life that pops up everywhere.”

“The oldest vineyards in Quebec are only about 40 years old,” he pointed out. “When you think about it, we have it all to rebuild and rethink, especially when we talk about adaptation to climate change. Every vineyard in this country is a lab.”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Town councillors in Frelighsburg passed the municipality’s 2025 budget on Dec. 16. The 14 per cent tax increase (from 37 to 41.58 cents per $100 of assessed value for all types of property) will allow the municipality to shoulder a heavier workload, pay rising service fees, pay off loans and avoid dipping into the surplus, Mayor Lucie Dagenais explained. A presentation posted on the town website indicates that total operating expenses have gone up by nine per cent. Water, sewage and waste management fees will be determined later this winter.

“Our accountants recommend that we have six months of money in reserve in case of an emergency, and right now we’re at four months – we’re at a point where it would not be responsible to keep using the surplus,” she said, arguing that residents still pay less than those in neighbouring towns. 

Dagenais said the amount of work involved in keeping the town running has increased “tenfold” in recent years.

“For a few years now, we’ve been having human resources issues, jobs that went unfilled, issues responding to citizens’ requests and maintaining stability. [This past year] was a good year – we got an assistant treasurer, an assistant director general, a new inspector, a better organized fire department. As a small municipality, we can’t hire full-time staff, and it was difficult to find competent staff who were willing to work part time. We made some intermunicipal agreements to share staff and we have a structure now where we can be really operational,” she told the BCN. “We have more and more responsibilities – we’re asked to be more proactive in promoting civic engagement, new responsibilities in terms of fire risk coverage and protecting the environment. It’s understandable, but it requires resources; it’s something else that taxpayers pay for.”

Dagenais also noted an increase in Sûreté du Québec (SQ) service fees of nearly 11 per cent. Along with her counterparts from across the MRC, she is asking Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel to order an external analysis before confirming the increase. “We have an enormous fee rise from the SQ. “We have fewer officers and it costs more … and we’ve had a big increase in population – and we have no say in the matter; we just have to put up with it,” she said. She noted that MRC fees, insurance and auditing costs and fees for the Cowansville municipal court and the Société de protection animale des Cantons had also shot up.

On the infrastructure front, Dagenais said she hoped to launch calls for tenders for a major upgrade to the town’s water treatment plant as early as this summer. “Until that’s done, there are a lot of other things we can’t start. We can’t have new [residential] development. Once we get rid of the marshes, we can build the new fire station and municipal garage. There will be a lot of groundbreaking in the next little while.”

The first-term mayor said she would seek a second term in the upcoming election. “You learn from experience – I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the last few years and I want to use that knowledge.”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

City officials in Cowansville presented the municipality’s 2025 budget at a council meeting on Dec. 16. The budget, totalling just under $37 million, will be “focused on responding to citizens’ needs and requests over the past few years,” said Mayor Sylvie Beauregard, who recently confirmed her own plans to run for a third term. She called the budget balanced, responsible and future-oriented.

According to the city’s three-year infrastructure plan, released in tandem with the budget and presented by director general Claude Lalonde, major planned investments in 2025 include upgrades to the town’s water pumping and filtration systems and ongoing work to separate the water and sewage networks (a total of nearly $4.9 million of which $4 million is expected to be paid by provincial grants), land acquisition for future use ($2.76 million), ongoing watermilfoil prevention, upgrades to lighting and walking trails in city parks, new pickleball courts, a permanent gazebo at the nature centre, the construction of an outdoor education space in Parc des Colibris as outlined in the participatory budget and the acquisition of a new garbage truck. The city is also setting aside $285,000 to fund Lake Davignon preservation efforts, and establishing a new fund for upgrades to water service ($560,000).

Longer-term projects include preparing for the city’s 150th-anniversary celebrations in 2026 and renovating the indoor aquatic centre, the only one of its kind in the municipality. Beauregard said renovating the centre, which opened in 1968, is “a very expensive operation” and a needs analysis needed to be carried out to see what form renovations might take.

In order to finance these projects, help the city pay down its debt and pay the city’s contributions to the Sûreté du Québec and MRC Brome-Missisquoi, a slight tax increase is planned for most types of property. Single-family homes and agricultural buildings will be taxed at 62.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from 62 cents last year. Other types of property which will be taxed at a higher rate are commercial buildings with a value under $800,000 (up from $1.740 to $1.762 per $100), commercial buildings over $800,000 (up from $1.940 to $1.964), industrial buildings under $800,000 (up from $1.760 to $1.782), industrial buildings over $800,000 ($1.960 to $1.984) and serviced vacant land ($1.24 to $1.25). The tax rate for multi-unit residential buildings with six or more units will stay unchanged at 72 cents per $100.

Flat rates for most city services will rise. Property owners paying a flat rate for water service will now pay $210 for the service itself and $180 for water treatment, up from $197 and $152 respectively. The increase, according to budget documents, “will be used to create a reserve for water services. Starting in 2024, any excess pricing over the annual cost of water services will be set aside. The accumulated amounts will be used for unforeseen events, to pay for future investment activities related to water services and thus reduce debt.”

Combined garbage removal fees will total $146 ($92 for trash and $54 for compost). The town’s compost program will be expanded to cover apartment buildings of six or more units. Recycling centre fees will rise from $32 to $37, and for those who use septic tanks, the emptying fee will go up from $65 to $99 due to a price raise by a third-party contractor. The pool levy will remain the same ($35 for above-ground pools and $70 for in-ground). For commercial properties using water counters, water and water treatment rates will creep up to a combined 95 cents per cubic metre from 90 cents. According to the budget presentation, the average single-family home will owe $65.50 more in taxes and utilities than last year, a 2.25 per cent increase.

Detailed information on the budget and three-year infrastructure plan is available on the city website.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Dunham mayor Pierre Janecek and director general Francis Bergeron presented the municipality’s budget and infrastructure plan during a Dec. 16 council meeting. The budget includes a 4.9 per cent property tax hike per $100 of assessed value for residential, agricultural and forested properties and a hike of nearly 10 per cent for industrial and non-residential buildings, and 21 per cent increase in the levy to cover road work on Chemin Noiseux and Chemin Selby. The town presented a balanced budget of $8.45 million.

The average single-family home will see a tax increase of 3.93 per cent in the village sector, 4.04 per cent in the Lac-Selby sector and 4.38 per cent for homes not connected to the town’s water and sewage network. Most service fees will also go up, with a $10 increase in the septic tank emptying fee and increases in the sewage network maintenance levy (an increase of $12.85 or 3.28 per cent in Lac-Selby and 32 cents or 0.12 per cent in the village).

“On our end, costs for everything are rising, so we’re stuck sometimes [with having to impose a tax increase],” Janecek said. He cited increases in the fees the town paid to the MRC Brome-Missisquoi, the Sûreté du Québec, the Cowansville municipal court, the SPA Brome-Missisquoi and insurance providers as among the reasons for rising expenses.  Revenues, Bergeron noted “are practically not going up at all,” with only seven new housing units added to the tax roll in the past year.

According to the presentation prepared by town officials, for every dollar of property tax revenue, $0.18 funds road work, $0.13 funds the municipal administration, $0.09 funds snow removal, $0.09 funds debt repayment, $0.08 funds the police, $0.08 funds the fire department and public safety, $0.07 waste management, $0.06 water and sewage, $0.06 urban planning, $0.05 the clerk’s office and $0.03 other allocations.

The three-year infrastructure plan was also presented. Major projects in 2025 include the construction and fitting-out of a new fire station (7.949 million) for which the call for tenders process began last week, new washrooms at Parc de l’Envol cybersecurity upgrades and a new cloud-based online system for handling citizens’ requests ($34,000), connecting the town hall and library to the water network ($25,000, intended to make it easier to use the two buildings as emergency management hubs), upgrades to walking trails ($125,000) and new sanitary facilities at Parc de l’Envol ($250,000). The town also plans to invest $1 million in road work, of which $900,000 will be covered by provincial grants.  

The BCN contacted Janecek and the Ville de Dunham to schedule a follow-up interview but did not receive a response before the holidays.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Farnham mayor Patrick Melchior presented the municipality’s 2025 budget and infrastructure plan during a brief council meeting on Dec. 9.

“We are proud to present the main points of the 2025 budget of the City of Farnham, the result of rigorous work aimed at reconciling economic development and protection of the purchasing power of citizens,” the mayor said. “We have a balanced budget, as required by law … The 2025 budget represents an increase of 7.17 per cent, or $1.45 million, compared to 2024. These funds will support our services, repay the debt linked to projects completed in 2024 and invest in our infrastructure, thanks to an ambitious three-year [infrastructure] plan.”

He said the new property tax assessment roll which came into effect this year, with an average increase of nearly 50 per cent in the values ​​of taxable properties, has “raised legitimate concerns.” Single-family home residential property values have gone up by 52.2 per cent, multi-unit residential property values by 53 per cent, agricultural property by 46.7 per cent, and serviced vacant property by nearly 60 per cent. Commercial and industrial property values have risen by 29.9 and 52 per cent respectively.

Consequently, the city has reduced tax rates and kept fees for most utilities stable. The residential tax rate has decreased from 70 cents to 47.8 cents per $100 of taxable value, and the multi-unit residential tax rate from 72 cents to 48.8 cents. Non-residential buildings are now taxed at $1.329 (previously $1.660) and industrial buildings at $1.947 (previously $1.331). The only tax rate increase applies to serviced vacant lots, now taxed at 95.6 cents (up from 88.7 cents). Additional fees of 3.43 cents per $100 and 8.59 cents per $100 will respectively go toward paying the town’s MRC and Sûreté du Québec funding obligations. Waste removal and water fees for residences will rise from $45 to $60 and $180 to $200 respectively; other utility fees will be stable. Citizens will no longer have to pay the $45 recycling fee due to a change in the way the service is funded; a new $30 fee for the removal of bulk trash will be put in place. Taxpayers will submit their payments in six instalments.

For an average home, whose value has increased from $243,300 to $369,816, he said the residential tax rate has been reduced from $0.70 to $0.478 per $100, in order to cushion the impact of the increase on residents’ finances, Melchior said.

Farnham was recently cited in a report by the Fondation Rivières as the municipality in the region most vulnerable to sewage overflows, and improving the capacity of the water treatment system is high on the town’s to-do list. “Over the next three years, we have major investments to make in infrastructure to ensure that our town stays healthy,” he said. “We don’t enjoy spending, but…it ensures we will have essentials like water … It’s heartbreaking when you see how astronomical the costs are now, but they are absolutely necessary.” He noted that scaling up the capacity of the town’s water filtration and treatment plant would have cost an estimated $900,000 in 1998, and the current cost of the project is estimated at $14 million. “That’s what happens when you put off needed investments.”

Planned investments in the coming year include studies that will go toward the planning of upgrades to the Éva-Dulude Dam, plans and estimates toward renovations to the fire station and town hall, adding  UV disinfection capability to the water treatment plant and extensive roadwork aimed at allowing upgrades to the water network. The Domaine du Sentier bike path is also slated to be completed this year, and the city intends to replace a fire truck, a garbage truck and a Zamboni. The 2025 portion of the infrastructure plan totals about $15.75 million.

Melchior has previously said he plans to seek a third term in this fall’s election. He was not available to respond to follow-up questions from the BCN. At the council meeting, he invited interested residents and property owners to consult detailed budget documents on the town website or in person at the town hall, and send questions by email to administration@ville.farnham.qc.ca

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Sutton Mayor Robert Benoit and director general Pascal Smith presented the municipality’s 2025 budget and infrastructure plan at a Dec. 18 council meeting. They described the budget as “reasonable and forward-thinking” and “something that we can be proud of.”

With tax increases ranging from -0.11% to 1.39%, depending on the sector, the Town is undoubtedly proposing one of the most moderate increases among Brome-Missisquoi municipalities,” said Robert Benoît. “We congratulate ourselves on having achieved this feat while maintaining the level and quality of our services to citizens, and pursuing structuring projects for the town’s development.” Priorities laid out in the budget presentation include improving services to citizens, investing in engineering projects that reinforce climate resilience, working toward connecting the Mountain sector to the town water network and incentivizing affordable housing.

In 2025, residential taxpayers in the Village sector will see their bills rise by an average of 1.19 per cent (serviced properties) and 1.39 per cent (properties not served by municipal water and sewer services). Taxes in the Mountain sector will be reduced by 0.11 per cent. These figures are based on the average assessed value of a residence in Sutton, which is $472,939 in 2025. Taxes are expected to decrease for properties valued at $200,000 or less in the Village sector and $500,000 or less in the Mountain sector, according to a spreadsheet provided by the city.

There will be a 2.5 per cent increase in the basic tax rate for all types of property. Additional taxes aimed at servicing debt and funding public works will rise by 1.11 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. Waste removal, sewage and septic tank fees will decrease, but water fees will increase by slightly less than 7 per cent (6.77 per cent or $13).

On the infrastructure front, the town plans to conduct detailed studies concerning the cost and the work involved in piping water from the Village to the Mountain sector, upgrade the current water network and work toward converting the former Calvary Church (which was an art gallery until last year) to a daycare centre and community hall.

The city once again dipped into its surplus to balance the budget, taking $300,000 from its reserves, despite having previously planned not to touch the surplus this year. “It’s not normal to use the surplus to pay our expenses; it’s not normal to use credit to pay for groceries, but [otherwise] we were not able to achieve the objective of a balanced budget,” Smith said.

Benoit said the town needed to dip into its surplus to pay fees owed to the MRC Brome-Missisquoi and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). He said the fees for both had risen by 9.6 per cent this year. “I don’t think any municipalities can survive with [SQ fee increases] of nine or ten per cent. The other [concern] is the MRC, where over the last three years we’ve had a roughly 10 per cent increase each year on average, which doesn’t make sense because they don’t really provide services for consumers.” He said the current SQ fee structure particularly penalized wealthier parts of the MRC like Sutton and Brome Lake, which had less crime and less regular police presence but a larger tax base. Councillors voted to send protest resolutions to the MRC and the director general of the SQ denouncing the fee increases.

Other issues weighing heavily on the town’s finances were an influx of new residents and needed upgrades to the road and drainage systems. “We have major [public] works to do, and we’ll have to finance those projects. That will be a big challenge also for the next coming years,” said the mayor.

However, he said the municipality was not in a position where services would have to be cut this year. “Public works is our priority – we have 245 kilometres of roads here and we have to maintain them, especially with climate change and the melting and refreezing. We don’t want to cut back on direct services to the population. If we don’t [invest], we’ll hit a wall at a certain point and we’ll have to spend money on crisis management, and that’s going to cost a lot more.”

Benoit and his Action Sutton slate of councillors were first elected in 2021. He told the BCN he is considering running again. “My focus was to deliver the budget first, and then think about [the election] next year. It’s a big decision, because the challenges are huge … but I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Detailed French-language summaries of the budget and infrastructure plan can be accessed on the city website. English versions are expected to be available after the holidays.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Skyrocketing property tax values have made piecing together the 2025 budget a challenge in Waterloo, Mayor Jean-Marie Lachapelle has acknowledged. Cumulative property values in the town of about 5,000 people have shot up from $581 million to $915 million with the release of the new tax role earlier this year, and the value of the average residential property has risen by 61 per cent, from $238,300 to $386,900.

“There’s a lot of work to do, and it’s a year of a new role,” Lachapelle said. “We needed to reduce the tax rate and go with everyone’s economic situation. The average person will have an increase of about 1.9 per cent in their tax rate; some will have less and some will have more. It’s important not to penalize people who have seen their property value go way up.”

Residential properties, multi-unit properties, agricultural land and forested land will share the same tax rate of 56.82 cents per $100 of assessed value, a decrease of about one-third from last year. Industrial and commercial property tax rates will also decrease. The only planned tax rate increases are for vacant land.

While the residential water fee has risen by $4, from $145 to $149, sewage, waste management and town recreation services fees have all gone down slightly; residents will pay a combined $44 less in service fees. Industrial service fees will remain the same except for the recycling fee, which has been removed for this year. The average homeowner’s combined bill for taxes and service fees will rise by an estimated $57, according to a town presentation. The average homeowner with a property value of more than $600,000 will pay an estimated $211 more.

The three-year infrastructure plan lays out six priorities for the municipality – respecting citizens’ capacity to pay, assuring the continued functioning of town infrastructure, improving the road network, maintaining the quality of services, reducing recourse to debt and developing the town’s active transit (walking and biking) network.

Major work on Rue Western, Rue Saint-Joseph and Boul. Industriel and the construction of a bike path along Chemin de l’Horizon are in the town’s plans for 2025, along with repairs to the roof of the Maison de Culture, the headquarters of the rowing club and the Jacques-Chagnon Arena, and replacing the town’s splash pad with a more water-efficient model. Upgrades to the water infrastructure are also planned, following a report by the Fondation Rivières using environment ministry data that indicated the municipality’s water network is vulnerable to sewage overflows, and a city-commissioned report that showed the town’s water network could accommodate five to 11 years of population growth at the most. Lachapelle plans to have the town’s water and sewage networks separated, which requires major roadwork.  “When we have [separate water and sewage] networks, and we get heavy rain, excess water goes into the river. When we have the one network, there is overflow and not all the sewage makes it to the water treatment plant,” he said. Further upgrades to the town’s pumping stations are planned in 2026.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The town of Bedford will enter 2025 with several major projects on its to-do list, notably upgrading its water infrastructure, building a long-awaited new fire station and moving the town hall offices into the building currently occupied by the local Desjardins branch, Mayor Claude Dubois told the BCN in a year-end interview.

Along with Farnham and Waterloo, Bedford was recently singled out by the Fondation Rivières as one of the municipalities in the region most vulnerable to sewage overflow. In September, an exceptionally vigorous algae bloom turned the area of Missisquoi Bay from which Bedford draws its water “green as your grass” for several days; earlier this summer, a tanker truck was brought in at the town’s expense to provide drinking water. “Drinking water is our big bête noire – we need it. We have had huge cyanobacteria problems and we want to make an investment so as not to repeat the disaster of this summer.”

Dubois said the town has received necessary authorizations to build a new feeder pipe further out in the bay, at a cost of $2.17 million. He said the town plans to have the pipe installed in September or October of next year. “We used to be able to do work [on the bay] in winter, but it’s not safe; the ice isn’t thick enough anymore,” he added.

The largest single planned investment of 2025, $6.5 million (of which about half is covered by a provincial government subsidy), will go toward separating the water and sewage networks on the south side of the town. The town also plans to spend $108,000 on upgrading water filtration equipment and $60,000 on a sewage runoff reduction plan.

Firefighters will move into the long-awaited new central fire station by March 2025, Dubois estimated. Town employees will also move out of the current town hall into a building on Rue des Rivières partially vacated by Desjardins, which will continue to pay rent on its remaining office space. Dubois said the move to the new town hall, which has a parking lot and wheelchair access unlike its predecessor, would be much more accessible. According to the town’s three-year infrastructure plan, buying and renovating the building will cost the town about $1.37 million.

Most tax rates reduced

The town’s 2025 budget was released last week along with its infrastructure plan. Most tax rates were reduced in light of rising property values. The single-family home tax rate was reduced from 80 cents to 65 cents per $100 of assessed value, the multi-unit residential rate from $1.02 to 80 cents and the non-residential rate from $1.65 to $1.32. The rate for an industrial building will drop from $2.17 to $1.615 and for agricultural land from 85 cents to 60 cents. Utility rates largely stayed the same, although the recycling fee rose from $32 to $37. The average homeowner can expect to pay $71 – or 2.76 per cent – more in property taxes than last year.

“Some citizens will even see their tax rates go down,” Dubois said. “It’s always a challenge to provide the most services we can at the least cost to citizens.”

Dubois served as mayor between 2003 and 2013, when he was defeated by Yves Lévesque. He ran again in 2021 and got his old job back. Now 71, he told the BCN he was undecided about running for an additional term, but leaning towards running. “There’s a good chance I’ll be there again if the population wants me to be,” he said.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

At the Dec. 9 council meeting where Bromont adapted its 2025 budget and three-year infrastructure plan, the key word was “resilience” – resilience amid a difficult economic situation, climate resilience and the resilience of the city’s aging infrastructure. Another key word was “participation” – this was the first budget for which a citizens’ consultative committee weighed in, and the first budget to include an amount set aside for projects proposed by citizens. Details of the participative budget project will be announced this fall.

“We are living in complex economic times. This 2025 budget represents our desire to be collectively resilient in this context. Despite this, we have managed to limit the tax increase to 1.94 per cent, while reserving amounts in the operating budget for projects such as the development of an affordable housing policy, improvements to bike paths, the fight against Eurasian watermilfoil [and] the return of Bromont Blues,” Mayor Louis Villeneuve said.

“With the economic situation, we had to respect everyone’s capacity to pay, but we did not want to cut services to citizens, lifestyle projects or climate resilience – those are things we have to deal with,” deputy mayor Tatiana Contreras told the BCN. She explained that other major projects include replacing aging water and sewage infrastructure and roadwork (“the kinds of things that are less sexy but need to be prioritized”), putting in place car-sharing and transport-on-demand projects, developing an affordable housing policy and working to improve access to daycare. Firefighters should also be able to move into the new central fire station in early 2025; Contreras said it remains to be seen what will be done with the two buildings the fire department will vacate.

The city also increased the funding it provides to the Société de conservation Mont-Brome, Les Amis des Sentiers, Action Bassins Versants Bromont, the CAB Marguerite-Dubois, Tourisme Bromont and the national cycling centre, for a total of $1,206,930 in grants (about $92,000 more than last year).

To finance these and other initiatives, the city chose to increase the property tax rate, bucking a regional trend of decreasing tax rates to compensate for rising property values. A single-family home will now be taxed at 62.3 cents per $100 of assessed value (up from 60.4 cents), a multi-unit residential building at 66.7 cents (up from 64.7 cents), a non-residential building at $1.628 (up from $1.578), an industrial building at $2.17 ( up from $2.104), agricultural land at 54.5 cents (up from 52.8) and vacant serviced land at $1.245 (up from $1.208). Total tax revenues are expected to rise by 8.6 per cent. Nearly 65 per cent of town revenue comes from property taxes, by far the town’s largest source of income.

In terms of utility service fees, homeowners and business owners paying flat rates for water and sewage will pay $6 more for water and sewage service and $4.50 more for recycling centre services, but $40 less for waste management. Businesses using water counters will pay two cents per square metre more than last year.

Detailed presentations on the budget and three-year infrastructure plan are available in French on the city website.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Potton mayor Bruno Côté told the BCN in a year-end interview that he believed the town had “finally achieved stability” after several years of governance and infrastructure challenges.

Last week, the municipality tabled a balanced budget totalling over $16 million, the largest in recent memory – the 2023 budget was $9.3 million. Côté said $5.8 million of provincial government funding earmarked for the new fire station is the main reason for the increase.

“We’ve had big challenges over the past three years,” Côté said. “Three years ago we had to make a difficult decision to raise taxes, and we promised an increase of zero the following year … and we kept our promise. Last year, we had serious issues with the roads and we had to bring in an engineering service, who said the needed upkeep hadn’t been done for 20 years. The roads were beat up and we spent a lot of money re-gravelling the roads. Now is not the time to stop. This year, the budget as a whole went up, with [the new fire station and] an increase in road maintenance costs.”

The town will begin a call for tenders for the new fire station this year, which should be equipped with a decontamination room and a larger garage, eliminating the need for a fire crew to pick up a trailer or a support vehicle at another garage before going to a call, Côté said.

The municipality estimates that the average homeowner in the Mansonville sector will see their taxes go up by $8, from $1,839 to $1,847. Owl’s Head homeowners will see a steeper rise, from $3,772 to $4,220, an increase of $448 or nearly 12 per cent. The average rural homeowner will see a slight decrease, from $2,357 to $2,340. The average tax rate has risen from 38.75 cents per $100 to $39.4 cents per $100, less than a cent.

Other than ongoing road work, the new fire station and the purchase of a new fire truck, major planned infrastructure projects for 2025 include a new bike path linking the village and mountain sectors, opening a stage and amphitheatre in the Parc de la Grange ronde and making repairs to Église Saint-Cajetan, which the canton acquired from the Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe in 2023 for a symbolic dollar and hopes to turn into a performance space and a community hall. The town will also establish its own boat patrol for the southern sector of Lake Memphremagog, stepping into the void left by the MRC which has discontinued its own lake patrol. The towns of Ogden and Stanstead will pay Potton to control their sections of the lake. “We’re the biggest municipality [in the MRC] in terms of territory and we need to show that we can take our responsibilities,” he said. “We’re continuing on with the big projects while keeping taxes at a reasonable level.” 

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

People who are experiencing homelessness this winter will be able to warm up and contact support services at warming centres (haltes-chaleur) in Farnham and Cowansville this winter.

The warming centres, in their third year of operation, will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. whenever the wind chill drops below -15. The Farnham centre will be in its usual location at 525, rue Saint-Édouard; the Cowansville centre, after two years on rue Albert, is at a new location at 217 rue Oxford. The centres are run in partnership with the Maison des Jeunes de Farnham and funded by various sources including the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins foundation, the MRC Brome-Missisquoi, local elected officials, Centraide and individual donors. The centres opened for the first time this year on Dec. 5.

The centres are not shelters with beds, but people visiting the centres will be able to rest, stock up on warm clothes, have a meal or a snack and speak with an outreach worker, according to Tania Szymanski, community development and immigration co-ordinator at the MRC of Brome-Missisiquoi. “There will always be an outreach worker asking about people’s needs in terms of mental health, medical care and food security and bringing them toward services. [The warming centres are] a pretext to intervene and help people.”

“In the past, we opened the shelters at -20 during the day, but there are already organizations that welcome people during the day, and we saw there was more of a need at night,” she added. “We don’t know how many nights we’ll be open – it depends on the temperature.”

Szymanski said she had seen rising demand for the centres’ services since they first opened two years ago. “There are more and more people [in the region] who are in situations of either hidden or visible homelessness,” she said. “It’s definitely something we need to work on.”

There is no permanent homeless shelter in Cowansville or Farnham. The project has a transport budget to bring people in need of a shelter bed to Granby, Sherbrooke or Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, but Szymanski said that was not an option for everyone. “The [warming centres] help, but they aren’t the only solution,” she said. “We want to house people in Brome-Missisquoi, because not everyone wants to leave the region.” She said the MRC is exploring the idea of establishing a shelter, but she expects funding and determining the right model for the shelter to take time.

If you or someone you know need a warm place to spend the night in an emergency, check the Halte-chaleur Farnham & Cowansville Facebook page to see whether the warming centres are open. No reservations are needed. To donate money or supplies, contact the Maison des Jeunes de Farnham.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

All of the 17 provincial prisons in Quebec, including the Sherbrooke detention centre, were placed in lockdown for several hours on Dec. 3 as correctional officers staged a spontaneous protest in solidarity with an officer who suffered severe injuries after a beating by an inmate at the Sorel-Tracy detention centre. Detainees remained in their cells all morning and were unable to attend court appearances, go to medical appointments, have meals or take part in educational or recreational activities from 7 a.m. to noon.

Mathieu Lavoie, president of the Syndicat des agents de la paix en services correctionnels du Québec (SAPSCQ-CSN), the CSN-affiliated union representing prison guards, said the protest was also intended to draw attention to guards’ longstanding concerns. “We’ve seen a lot more violence and infiltration [of contraband] into prisons over the last few months,” he said. “There’s also a labour shortage – the Sorel-Tracy centre has 30 unfilled positions, and while those positions are empty, people are doing overtime.” The union has been negotiating with the Ministry of Public Safety (MSP) for a new collective agreement; the previous agreement expired in 2023.

Prison guards, like nurses, police officers and paramedics, are considered essential services and normally don’t have the legal right to strike. The MSP called union representatives to an emergency hearing before the Quebec Labour Arbitration Tribunal (Tribunal administratif du travail; TAT) on the day of the protest.

According to Judge Sylvain Allard’s ruling, released Dec. 9, union representatives said the protest had been planned by the union the night before, and acknowledged their actions constituted an illegal strike. Allard found that “the prison population and the population in general were deprived of services to which they were entitled” and “security at the prison was not assured” during the protest. Allard noted that the protest disrupted court proceedings, impacted the health of vulnerable detainees, delayed prison maintenance work and disrupted the schedules of teachers and delivery workers.

Allard ordered SASPQ-CSN members to return to work “in the usual way” and ordered the union to inform its members that further work stoppages wouldn’t be tolerated.

Provincial prisons house detainees serving sentences of less than two years; those serving longer sentences are sent to federal prisons. Correctional officers at the ten federal prisons in Quebec, including the medium-security Cowansville Institution, are represented by a separate union and didn’t take part in the protest.

As of this writing, neither the SASPQ-CSN nor the MSP had commented directly on the ruling.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Town officials in Waterloo say the municipality’s current water network is sufficient to respond to growing demand “without major investments in the medium term” but current water resources won’t last forever. According to studies commissioned by the town, the water treatment plant could reach capacity within a five to 11-year horizon, assuming a construction rate of 150 new housing units per year.

In February, the municipality mandated engineering firm Tetra Tech to evaluate the capacity of its drinking water and water treatment systems. Currently, 5,333 people are connected to the water network. Studies presented at a public meeting on Dec. 3 indicate that the town’s water filtration plant, built in 2001, and the three underground wells and two reservoirs that supply it can serve more than 960 additional homes – just over 2,000 people. The sewage treatment facility on Rue Allen should be able to safely handle waste from 1,365 homes. Town officials had hoped the facilities could serve 2,738 additional homes.

“Although the facilities are adequate for the current population, significant upgrades will be necessary to meet future needs. Given that the [water treatment plant’s] production capacity limit will be reached within five to 11 years and that this horizon could be shorter if some of the assumptions made prove more restrictive, it is recommended that the city conduct a feasibility study to determine the work required to meet future demand for drinking water production,” the author of the two studies, engineer Philippe Chouinard, warned.

Mayor Jean-Marie Lachapelle presented the findings in a positive light at the Dec. 3 meeting. “Water is an essential and precious resource in a context of growth like that of Waterloo. It is crucial to understand exactly where our limits are,” he said, adding that the town needed a “clear picture of the water situation” as it began work on its next urban plan. “The goal of the analysis was to determine how many residents our current infrastructures could serve while maintaining water quality. The studies confirm that the town has enough water for its current needs, and we have significant room to manoeuvre to welcome new residents.”

Director general Louis Verhoef presented the data from the two studies, explaining the processes in place to aerate, filter and disinfect the town’s drinking water. He noted that consumption had gone down by 28 per cent since 2009 despite the rising population, due to the patching of leaks, replacement of outdated equipment and changes in residents’ water use habits. He estimated that the plant was functioning at 66 per cent of its current capacity. “For the moment, neither the drinking water nor the sewage plant is an obstacle for our development,” he said.

Verhoef said the municipality planned to install a backup manganese filter in the water treatment plant and continue proactively testing water for PFAS (the “forever chemicals” found in some fire retardants) in response to public concern and strengthening provincial norms. Upgrades to the system will be funded in part by a “development fee” which companies or people requesting building permits for new builds will have to pay starting in 2025.

He added that the town had not made a decision on whether to reintroduce a proposed water counter requirement for residences, which was scrapped amid a public outcry this summer. “That will eventually be a question for council,” he said.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

After a failed attempt to persuade the health and social services committee of the National Assembly to take another look at the shelved CHSLD expansion project, members of the Bedford Pole Health Committee (BPHC) and their supporters are looking at alternative ways to bring attention to the project and push for a policy change.

In May 2022, after several years of advocacy from community groups, Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabelle Charest and then-seniors’ affairs minister Marguerite Blais announced details of an expansion plan which would allow the residence to accommodate up to 49 residents in private rooms and create a protected unit with eight places for people with cognitive disabilities who are susceptible to wandering, as the BCN reported at the time. However, in June of this year, officials from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS announced the project was off the table, although smaller renovations would go ahead in consultation with a users’ committee.

Members of the BPHC and the Bedford Pole Economic Relaunch Committee launched a campaign to revive the expansion project, holding a protest in front of the CHSLD and gathering over 3,300 signatures on a petition which was tabled at the National Assembly on Oct. 10. Liberal seniors’ affairs critic Linda Caron, who tabled the petition, said she formally requested that the health and social services committee of the National Assembly hold a hearing on the issue, but that request was turned down. In mid-October, representatives of the Fondation Lévesque-Craighead, which had raised tens of thousands of dollars toward the project, met with officials from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS and confirmed that the project was officially dead.

However, the BPHC is continuing to push for the project to be revived in some form. At a public meeting organized by the committee in Bedford on Nov. 29, local resident Marielise Deschamps announced plans to table a second petition in hopes that the National Assembly would hold hearings on the issue and pass a bill. “It’s clear that we won’t get the $15 million [initially promised for the project] but if we can get back $10 million, that will help.”

Lawyer François-David Bernier laid out a plan to send a “symbolic mise en demeure” to the Ministry of Health and Social Services denouncing what committee members see as its lack of investment in eldercare services in rural regions. Mises en demeure are formal letters asking the recipient to correct a perceived injustice, and raising the prospect of legal action if nothing is done.

Bernier acknowledged that the committee wasn’t in a position to sue the government over the cancelled project. “The legal sphere can’t dictate the political sphere; even if politicians have made promises, we can’t constrain them to follow through,” he said. “A mise en demeure to the government would be symbolic, but we want to tell them not to trivialize this issue. It’s a newish concept, but we want to denounce the inaction – the things that were said and not respected.”

“There are a lot of issues with our elders, there are a lot of budget cuts, and this is an important cause,” Bernier added. “Any self-respecting society is obligated to treat their elderly people with respect and give them appropriate care in their region. It is rare that you see people get mobilized like they have.”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

On Dec. 5, Minister for the French Language Jean-François Roberge announced an investment of $10 million in provincial funding to reopen French-as-a-second-language classes for adults known as francisation, offered by school boards and service centres in underserved regions, in January 2025. However, the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB) and Centre de services scolaire Val-des-Cerfs (CSSVDC) won’t receive any of the money. 

Both the ETSB and CSSVDC were forced to suspend francisation courses in November because of a mismatch between high demand for the courses and insufficient funding. They were among many school boards and service centres around the province that invested heavily in adult francisation because of rising demand and were forced to close or drastically cut course offerings, laying off teachers and sparking weeks of protest by immigrants’ rights groups, unions and students and teachers. Ten service centres were funded.

“We were expecting to be on the list [to receive funding], but neither we nor Val-des-Cerfs are on it,” ETSB board chair Michael Murray told the BCN. “We were hoping to get funding for 50 or 60 students who depend on French to find employment.”

Roberge surprised many when he told reporters at the National Assembly that the funding top-up had been planned since September, using money the government saved after ending a financial incentive program for part-time francisation students. “It’s too little, too late – they’ve disrupted the lives of educators and students for no particular reason,” said Murray. “To say $10 million solves the problem [provincewide] is a joke.” He added that only “a fraction” of the students and teachers affected by cuts to the ETSB francisation program had been reassigned.

There are no plans to revive the school board’s adult francisation program, which was enthusiastically launched ahead of the 2024-2025 school year despite funding uncertainty, in the short term. “We were forging ahead thinking we would receive the money, and it turns out we won’t,” Murray said. “We are closing the book on a program we thought was a great success.”

Roberge said other courses offered by community organizations in partnership with the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) would become available in the coming months. He said he hoped to offer more “predictability” to French language learners in 2025, although he couldn’t promise that everyone who asked for a place in a classroom would get one. “There are way, way, way too many people in Quebec, mainly temporary workers, who don’t speak French, and our capacity to [teach French] isn’t bottomless, Quebecers’ capacity to pay isn’t bottomless,” he said. “We’re going to do the best we can with the money we have.”

Since the closure of the ETSB program, there are no longer any full-time, in-person subsidized French courses available in Brome-Missisquoi, according to the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Two local nonprofits confronting the housing crisis in Brome-Missisiquoi held a free film screening and round-table discussion at the Princess Cinema in Cowansville on Monday evening to talk about creative ways to make housing more affordable.

The Table de logement de Brome-Missisquoi and Sutton-based Territoires Solidaires presented the documentary Le Dernier Flip, produced by Territoires Solidaires cofounder Samuel Gervais, and hosted a roundtable discussion with Gervais and Table du logement spokesperson Cédric Champagne.

In the film, Gervais, the executive director and cofounder of Territoires Solidaires, and coproducers Diane Bérard and Mathieu Vachon travel to Vermont to meet U.S. Senator and former Burlington, Vt. mayor Bernie Sanders and explore different ways of taking property off the speculative real estate market, notably community land trusts (CLTs), which Sanders backed during his time as mayor. A CLT is a nonprofit which holds land on behalf of a community and ensures its management; a CLT can encompass and collaborate with a housing co-op. “It’s a model coming from the States to make housing more affordable and accessible,” Gervais said.

Territoires Solidaires is currently working on two CLT pilot projects in Sutton, one on Western St. and one on the former vineyard now known as the Terrain du Vieux-Verger; Gervais said the organization is also looking into a possible project in Abercorn. Gervais said his organization’s “mission” is to create and manage CLTs around the region, keeping at least some housing affordable amid skyrocketing property resale values. 

Gervais said he and his colleagues wanted to make the CLT model, which is already used in the Montreal area and elsewhere in the country, better known around Quebec. “We’re not building on something completely new. We’re building on something that has decades of existence, huge impacts in the US, where it started, but now across the world, so we feel lucky to be part of that movement,” he said. Co-ops, CLTs and social utility trusts are complementary to each other and are different ways of “decommodifying real estate,” Gervais said.

In light of the Sutton pilot projects and of other initiatives which Territoires Solidaires is hoping to launch around Brome-Missisquoi, Gervais said he hopes the documentary screening will get people talking.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Cowansville-based adult literacy organization Le Sac à Mots is actively looking for area residents to help teach newcomers French on a volunteer basis after the Centre des services scolaire Val-des-Cerfs and the Eastern Townships School Board were forced to suspend subsidized French classes over a lack of funding.

Caroline Plaat is the coordinator of the long-established nonprofit, which serves the entire MRC of Brome-Missisquoi except for Bedford and Farnham (which are served by a separate organization). Its primary raison d’être is adult literacy – helping francophone adults who never learned to adequately read or write in their first language to improve their skills. However, for at least two decades, the organization has had a twinning program, pairing adult French language learners with fluent speakers who volunteer to either tutor them formally or provide practice opportunities.

Plaat said the program has helped anglophone Townshippers and newcomers improve their French for years. “Since a few years ago, we’ve had a lot of people from Latin America, Spanish speakers, who come here to work in the fields. We’ve had a few Ukrainians. We’ve had a lot of immigration in the last few years, and we’re hoping to be able to offer more ‘twins’ to help these people in light of the disappearance of [subsidized] courses.”

“At Le Sac à Mots, we facilitate the meeting, support the volunteers, help them find a room if they need it, but then people organize themselves. We’d like it to be in person as much as possible, but if it’s winter and people want to do a Zoom meeting so as not to have to drive, that’s fine. If your idea of ‘class’ is to go grocery shopping together so the person can work on their vocabulary, then go for it,” she said.

She emphasized that the volunteer tutoring program does not replace a francisation course. She said many of the remaining francisation courses are not accessible for the most vulnerable immigrants, who may not have a ride to Granby or a stable internet connection.  “Whatever happened, the result is the same – whoever’s fault it is, whatever logic they use, the courses aren’t there. We want to continue to put pressure on the government to fund francisation. It’s not coherent to say ‘Vive le français’ and then shovel [the responsibility] into the backyard of community organizations.”

She said the twinning program “won’t fill that gap, but we want to tell people, ‘Hey, if you want to help newcomers, here’s a way to do it.’”  The current volunteer roster is “super varied” and there’s no need to be a retired teacher or a native French speaker – just a person with room in their schedule who feels comfortable helping someone learn the language.

A partial solution

The Deux par deux online twinning program, started by the Fondation pour la langue française (FFLF) at the height of the pandemic, is also seeking volunteers to offer more French language learning opportunities. They hope to recruit as many as 3,000 conversation partners across the province, to work with advanced beginner, intermediate and advanced learners – people who are already capable of holding a conversation in French but who might be shy.

Like Plaat, FLF board chair Marie-Anne Alepin said formal courses were “necessary,” especially for beginners, but that conversation opportunities were important for language development.

“We don’t offer courses – what we offer is complementary to a course,” said Alepin, who is also president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and an established actor and theatre producer.  “There’s nothing better than a little chat!” 

In November, the Provincial Employment Round Table (PERT) launched a linguistic mentorship program for anglophones looking to improve their French, in partnership with Townshippers, the Regional Development Network and Concordia University. The Circonflexe program pairs English-speaking professionals with French-proficient mentors from a variety of fields in order to help them improve their proficiency in professional French, and ideally in their field, willing to meet in person or online and chat in “la langue de Céline.” PERT is seeking volunteer mentors who are fluent in French and have good leadership and communication skills.

“The objective is to twin people who are in the same industry, in the same sector and in the same region,” said PERT communications director Chad Walcott. Mentors will also have access to an online “toolbox.”

Walcott mentioned that many anglophones have a high level of French but struggle with shyness when using the language, especially in professional situations. He said the organization hoped to “expand French language learning programs with informal, immersive experiences” like language twinning.

For more information on Le Sac à Mots, Deux par Deux or the Circonflexe mentorship program, visit the programs’ respective websites.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

After a five-month pilot project, Transdev has announced plans to make its on-demand shuttle service in Brome-Missisquoi permanent.

The shuttle service can pick up and drop off users at any one of 37 stops in Cowansville, Dunham, Frelighsburg, Sutton, Brome Lake, Bromont, Brigham, Ange-Gardien, Farnham, Bedford, Saint-Armand, Stanbridge East, Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Stanbridge Station, Sainte-Sabine, Pile River and Abercorn. Riders can travel from one municipality to another and to the Autoparc 74 park-and-ride in Bromont where they can catch onward Limocar buses to Sherbrooke or Montreal.

During the “testing period,” which began in June, the service was free. As of Nov. 25, riders will have to pay $15 per ride ($30 for a round-trip ticket).

The shuttles run from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. seven days a week but do not have a fixed schedule; riders need to reserve at least an hour before their planned departure via the Link Transit On-Demand mobile app or the bilingual Transdev website (limocar.ca/brome-missisquoi) and the shuttle will come to them. Riders are advised to arrive at the stop at least 15 minutes before their scheduled departure, with proof of payment. Any changes or cancellations must be made at least an hour before the scheduled departure, and if a rider books a ride and does not show up at the scheduled time on more than three occasions, he or she may be blacklisted.

“We thank all the customers who have, in recent months, contributed to making the service more efficient and reliable and we promise that we will continue to improve the service in the coming months,” Danny Charpentier, head of Limocar operations at Transdev, said in a statement.

The changes to the service offered by Transdev will not affect the on-demand shuttle service already offered by the MRC, MRC Brome-Missisquoi communications co-ordinator Mariève Lebrun said.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The nonprofit overseeing a former religious retreat centre in Sutton is seeking a court order forcing the municipality to grant a permit for a drug and alcohol rehabilaitation centre on the site.

The Villa Châteauneuf was built in 1911 on a 25-acre plot donated by philanthropist and politician Eugene Dyer, who stipulated that it should be used for educational purposes. It initially housed a convent and school. In 1971, it was transferred to the Foyers de la Charité, a network of religious retreat centres-slash-utopian communities based in France and affiliated with the Catholic Church. In June 2023, amid declining religious participation and the impact of COVID restrictions, the papal delegate of the Foyers de la Charité decreed the closure of the entire network; the last six permanent residents of the Sutton centre moved out that September. Since then, the complex of eight buildings has sat empty, overseen by a nonprofit board of directors.

The board of directors initially planned to cede the property to Le Chaînon, a Montreal-based organization for domestic violence survivors, but that plan fell through amid opposition from the town of Sutton. Sutton Mayor Robert Benoit has previously said the town intends to use its right of pre-emption to take the complex over and move local services there, replacing the aging Centre John-Sleeth. In November 2023, then-papal delegate Msgr. Michel Dubost wrote to Benoit and Villa Châteauneuf Inc. board chair Serge Poirier, saying both proposals seemed “motivated by community well-being” and the organization would not intervene to support or oppose either one.

In May 2024, Villa Châteauneuf announced plans to rent the property out to Maison La Passerelle, a Montérégie-based nonprofit, to house a rehabilitation centre for women dealing with addiction.

According to the Villa Châteauneuf court filing, Villa Châteauneuf signed an agreement with La Passerelle that would have allowed it to take the centre over that July. La Passerelle applied for an occupancy permit on May 8 and paid the $55 fee a week later. The town didn’t grant the permit, initially raising concerns about fire safety and missing documentation. On Aug. 20, Villa Châteauneuf sent a mise en demeure to the municipality, raising the possibility of a court case if the permit wasn’t issued. Three months later, on Nov. 18, the nonprofit filed a request for a protective order.

“Our request for a permit was in accordance with the rules, we meet all the requirements and the town doesn’t have discretionary power,” said Victor Marchand, vice president of the governing board of Villa Châteauneuf. “The town can’t just refuse. We’re asking the court to order them to grant us a certificate of occupation.”

Diocese challenges legitimacy of nonprofit

The Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe has sent a mise en demeure of its own to the town, stating that Villa Châteauneuf Inc. should have been dissolved when the retreat centre closed in 2023, and the former convent and all associated property should have become the property of the diocese. Consequently, lawyers for the diocese write, the request for a permit is illegitimate.

They further argue that the La Passerelle proposal does not respect the conditions laid out by Eugene Dyer. “The granting of the permit by the city may lead Eugene Dyer’s family trust to retake possession of the building, to the detriment of our client,” diocese lawyers write.

“That’s very surprising for Holy Mother Church; I’m not sure what they want to accomplish with that,” Marchand said.

A sense of urgency

Marchand argued that it was urgent for the town to grant the permit, which was required for the rehab centre to get approval from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS. He said the costs of heating and maintaining the sprawling complex for another winter would be prohibitively expensive for his organization; the nonprofit’s lawyers argue that it may cost as much as $200,000. “La Passerelle will assume all of the operating fees [if it takes possession of the property]. We have no other revenue.”

Amélie Lemieux, executive director of La Passerelle, said in a court filing that the rehabilitation centre had outgrown its current premises in Saint-Siméon-de-Bagot and needed a larger space.

The demand for a protective order will be presented in court in Cowansville on Dec. 17. “Normally, if the request is made in accordance with the requirements, the town doesn’t have discretionary power – I’m confident we’ll win,” Marchand said.

The municipality of Sutton, the diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe and the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS were not able to comment before the BCN went to press on Monday.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Centre d’action bénévole (CAB) de Cowansville will be up and cooking in 2025 thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that has raised around $650,000.

Expansion project manager Nathalia Guerrero Vélez cut the ribbon on Nov. 21 to formally open the centre’s new MAPAQ-standard kitchen and cold storage room. Local elected officials including Cowansville Mayor Sylvie Beauregard and Frelighsburg Mayor Lucie Dagenais, representatives of the Fédération des centres d’action bénévole du Québec and sponsors attended the ceremony.

The centre currently operates a food bank, transport services for seniors who need help getting to medical appointments and errands, a phone outreach program for people unable to leave their homes, programs for caregivers and new immigrants, and income tax services. It provides services in both official languages to residents of Cowansville and surrounding municipalities including Frelighsburg, Dunham and East Farnham. Until recently, the CAB ran its food bank out of rented premises in a shopping centre basement; it did not have an onsite kitchen, refrigerator, cold room or food storage space. The kitchen can also be repurposed as a multipurpose room. Guerrero Velez said bringing the food bank onsite and adding a kitchen would allow the CAB to cut down on food waste, start offering prepared meals to organizations serving people in need, potentially bring back its communal meal programs and attract more volunteers eager to get cooking.

The expansion has been several years in the making; the CAB first bought land adjacent to its current premises in spring 2020, with plans to fund and build an annex. Although “a few details still need to be worked out,” Guerrero Velez said that dream was now a reality. “We would like to thank all of the donors who supported the project, and Athena Construction, for helping us make a difference.”

“The food bank has been working out of the new space for two weeks already,” she said. “It’s been working really well. We’re happy to offer this big, bright new space to volunteers and users. Now that we have our own space, everything is simpler.”

The CAB is still seeking donations to cover $100,000 in outstanding costs related to the expansion. Although Guerrero Velez said they “have a super solid team” of around 200 committed volunteers, extra pairs of hands are also welcome. “We have a nice space, but we don’t necessarily have more people … we’ll do the best we can with what we have.”

Guerrero Velez said she was expecting a busy winter at the food bank. “This time of year, demand for food goes way up, and we’re already starting a waiting list for the food bank,” she said. “We have been [providing food aid] for 50 years, and last year was the first year we had a waiting list. The cost-of-living crisis is having an impact on people who can’t get by anymore, including working people… it’s very worrisome.” 

To volunteer or make a donation, call the CAB at (450) 263-3758, visit their website at cabcowansville.net or drop by their premises at 201, rue Principale.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Bedford Pole Health Committee (BPHC) hasn’t given up on the long-planned CHSLD expansion, despite the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS and the Fondation Lévesque-Craighead, the local hospital foundation which had raised funds for the project, declaring it formally dead last month.

The $15-million expansion, announced by then-seniors’ affairs minister Marguerite Blais in 2022, was cancelled by the CIUSSS two years later, amid financial pressure and what CIUSSS officials deemed a lack of sufficient demand. Despite a large-scale mobilization campaign piloted by the BPHC and a petition with more than 3,400 signatures tabled at the National Assembly by Liberal seniors’ affairs critic Linda Caron, the CIUSSS confirmed the cancellation of the project.

The committee plans to hold a public meeting on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Centre Georges-Perron to discuss potential alternative ways forward for the project. A representative from the local Liberal riding association and a lawyer will be present to talk to participants about procedural options.

“We want to give the population an update,” said BPHC spokesperson Pierrette Messier. “We’re not expecting [the CIUSSS] to put the project back on the table – we’re aware that there are so many cuts around the province – but we want to keep it alive. Many people have been asking us what’s going on. We’ll give the chronology of everything that’s been happening since May.”

“We are afraid [the CIUSSS] will close the CHSLD if nothing changes,” added co-spokesperson Normand Deragon. “We want people to be at home with their family and friends for the last few miles of their lives.”

An initial announcement last week mistakenly implied that a representative from Caron’s office would attend, but Caron said no one from her office had been informed or was available. Messier said a representative from the local Liberal party would attend to help explain the political process.

“We don’t really have anything new to share,” Caron said. “I tabled the petition [on Oct. 10] and I requested for it to be taken up by the health and social services committee of the National Assembly.” Caron said she requested that representatives from the BPHC, the Fondation Lévesque-Craighead, seniors’ advocates and local elected officials be given the opportunity to plead their case before the committee. On Oct. 24, the committee decided not to move forward with her request. “From here, we don’t really have any leverage to try and unblock the project.”

Deragon said the committee was grateful for Caron’s support. “She’s done her job, and she undoubtedly has other fish to fry at this point.”

Caron said she would continue to “keep an eye” on potential opportunities to revive the project.  “I haven’t forgotten about it, and sometimes there’s a window that can open.”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Adult literacy advocates in Brome-Missisquoi held a protest outside the office of Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabelle Charest on Nov. 25, drawing attention to the impact of cuts to subsidized French-language courses across the region.

As the BCN reported earlier this fall, subsidized courses offered by the Eastern Townships School Board at the Campus Brome-Missisquoi adult education centre and by the Val-des-Cerfs, Des Sommets and Région-de-Sherbrooke school service centres elsewhere in the region were cut due to a mismatch between skyrocketing demand and limited funding offered by the Ministry of Education and Higher Learning (MEES), based on far lower demand from previous years.

As a result, hundreds of students across the region and the province found themselves out of class on Nov. 26. Many have been placed on waiting lists for other language-learning programs offered by the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI), although it may be months before they set foot in a classroom.

The MRC Brome-Missisquoi mayors’ council signed a memorandum protesting the service cuts and the MRC agreed to publicize the Nov. 25 protest.

As of Nov. 26, there will be no in-person francisation courses offered anywhere in Brome-Missisquoi, said Tania Szymanski, community development and immigration co-ordinator at the MRC. “There are classes offered in Granby, but that presents a major transport issue. There are at least 50 people in our region who have lost access to classes, and five teachers losing their jobs. It’s important for people to have access to French language courses because it is our primary language in Quebec.” She noted that over the past four to five years, an influx of asylum seekers and temporary foreign workers into Brome-Missisquoi has made access to language classes particularly important.

She pointed out that in addition to struggling to find work and integrate socially, non-French-speaking immigrants may run into difficulty accessing government services. “The law now requires that immigrants no longer have access to services in languages other than French after six months.”

Szymanski said MRC representatives met with community organizations to see what could be done to help, but “it’s very hard without additional funding.” She said local organizations such as Cowansville-based literacy nonprofit Le Sac à mots were setting up volunteer language twinning programs, but despite their best efforts, a twinning program is “very minimal” compared to full-time classes.

The MRC is calling on the MEES to reverse the cuts to in-person courses, allow students who started courses this year to finish, prioritize current students on MIFI waiting lists and fund stopgap services to maintain local course offerings. “Francisation is the key to successful integration and a more inclusive community. These people have a great desire to integrate into Quebec society and contribute to it. We must give them the means to do that,” prefect Patrick Melchior said in a statement.

The BCN was unable to speak to Le Sac à Mots, the MEES or the MIFI before publication on Monday.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Brome Lake Mayor Richard Burcombe will not seek a fourth term in 2025, he confirmed last week.

“I had already decided, but I hadn’t made it public yet, because I wanted to make sure to be fair to the other candidates and the population,” said Burcombe, a Mansonville native who moved to Brome Lake with his family when he was in high school and served 43 years as a police officer before entering municipal politics. “It’s time now. We all have to read the writing on the wall.”

Burcombe was elected in 2013 on a platform of restoring trust and stability to the town hall. He said he and the cohort of councillors elected that year “came in to a climate that wasn’t the best for the town. My objective was to bring peace and trust back to the community, and we accomplished that; to me, that’s my biggest accomplishment. We hired great people, and I take my hat off to them.

The mayor said he was proud of having made conservation, active transit and infrastructure improvements top priorities. “I’ve had a great run; in the first eight years, we got a lot done, like the two bridges, like the rebuilding of the dam, renovating the Town Hall and the [revitalization of] Coldbrook Park. We are waiting for the [Pettes] Library expansion and then we will be able to do [everything we’ve planned for] the park,” he recalled. “Bringing the Marché public back, [improving] the infrastructure on Victoria Street and Mill Road and Rue Montagne. We got a lot of good things done, and then of course COVID came and that slowed down the dam and certain other things.”

“Navigating COVID was stressful; you couldn’t have meetings, you couldn’t do this, you couldn’t do that, everyone just seemed distracted, and everything slowed down,” he said. Since the pandemic, he and others have observed that interactions between public officials and citizens have changed. “Seven to twelve per cent of elected officials have resigned [since the 2021 election]. That was unheard of – it was because of the way people approached elected officials, a lot of aggressiveness and disrespect. That’s not just here, it’s everywhere.”

Burcombe said his biggest regret was not being able to integrate Brome Lake into the Service de Police de Bromont coverage area, which he said would save the town hundreds of thousands of dollars and ensure better police coverage.

He said one of the things he has enjoyed the most is meeting and helping constituents.

Leaving the mayor’s office “is going to be a chapter that closes,” he said.

“Ever since I was 20 years old, as a police officer, I was in public. I left the SQ at the end of September [2013] and I started campaigning on the Monday after,” he remembered. “I didn’t even get time to reflect on leaving the police – I was campaigning seven days a week and then all of a sudden I was mayor.” After his term ends, he plans to take some time to “relax and wind down” and spend time in his workshop learning to make historically inspired cabinets.

Deputy mayor Lee Patterson has said he is interested in running to succeed Burcombe, although he doesn’t plan to make a final decision on his political future until the new year.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

A new outdoor education space will take root in the Parc des Colibris in Cowansville next year through the city’s participatory budget initiative. Up to $50,000 of city funds will be invested in the project.

A wooded area of the park will be “transformed into an improved natural space focused on outdoor education, environmental preservation and the promotion of healthy lifestyles, specifically by putting in trails and creating a meeting corner,” Mayor Sylvie Beauregard said at the Nov. 18 council meeting. “Small groups can use this space for workshops and for holding classes outdoors.” Work on the space should be complete by the end of 2025.

Similar initiatives, where cities earmark $50,000 for citizen-driven projects, have been established in Montreal, Longueuil, Laval, Granby and several smaller towns over the past few years; the town of Sutton launched its first participatory budget in 2023 and funded a turtle crossing and a new dog park.

The Cowansville project was announced in May and 19 projects were submitted, Beauregard said. Submissions were reviewed by a joint committee of councillors and concerned citizens to make sure they met key requirements – projects had to be on public land; to be submitted by a resident or residents; to be legally, technically and financially feasible within a year and within the $50,000 budget; and to have a strong sustainable development focus.

Five projects passed the committee’s scrutiny and were put to a vote in an online poll, open to Cowansville residents of all ages. All of them involved improving municipal green spaces – along with the Parc des Colibris project, other proposals involved greening traffic islands and planting trees in city parks; planting an herb garden in Parc François-Tanguay; installing a public “conversation bench” (placottoir public) and planters on Rue du Sud; and replanting the lawns of certain municipal buildings with wildflowers. Nearly 900 people voted.

“For a first-time project, there has been great citizen participation, and hopefully this will give people ideas for the future,” Beauregard said.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is adjusting the hours of 35 land border crossing points across the country, including 10 in Quebec, as of Jan. 6. The agency made the announcement on Nov. 18.

“Today’s announcement, determined in collaboration with the United States, will enhance overall security for both countries. It will allow the CBSA to use its resources more efficiently by deploying officers at busier ports of entry. This will support the CBSA’s ability to process travellers and goods as well as to manage enforcement activities,” the agency said in a statement. “The U.S. is also adjusting service hours at many of its ports of entry. This alignment will also allow both countries to return inadmissible travellers and goods to the other country, which is more difficult when one side of the border is closed while the other remains open.”

For the ten Quebec border crossings affected – Chartierville, Clarenceville, Frelighsburg, Herdman, Hereford Road, Highwater, Lacolle Route 221, Lacolle Route 223, Noyan and Trout River – this will mean reducing opening hours. The Chartierville crossing, previously open from 8 a.m. to midnight, will close at 8 p.m. after the changes take effect. The Clarenceville crossing, currently open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., will close at 4 p.m. The Herdman and Trout River crossings, now open 24-7, will operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Frelighsburg, Hereford Road, Highwater, Noyan and Lacolle Route 223 crossings currently open 24-7, will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Lacolle Route 221 crossing, also currently open 24-7, will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“Better alignment of service hours between Canadian and U.S. ports of entry increases the overall security of the border. Both Canada and the U.S. are making changes to hours of services to better align with each other,” CBSA spokesperson Karine Martel said in an email exchange with the BCN. “The new hours will put more officers at busy ports of entry where there are higher volumes of travellers and potentially high-risk activities.”

She added that the changes were made based on analysis of travel data. “Data indicated that most of these ports of entry process an average of two or less cars or commercial trucks per hour during the hours that will no longer be in operation,” said Martel. “For the majority of these ports of entry, there is an alternative crossing option within 50 kilometres or less, and others have an alternative within 100 km at the most. Commercial impacts of these changes are further minimized through pre-arrival and electronic reporting of goods.”

The CBSA declined an interview request.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

As the holiday season approaches, the federal government has announced plans to pass a two-month moratorium on goods and services tax (GST) for many common household products.

From Dec. 14 to Feb. 15, GST will no longer apply to  prepared foods, including pre-made meals and salads, vegetable trays, and sandwiches; restaurant meals, whether dine-in, takeout, or delivery; snacks, including chips, candy, and granola bars; beer, wine, and cider; children’s clothing, footwear, car seats and diapers;  toys including video games and puzzles; books and print newspapers; and Christmas trees. People who worked and earned less than $150,000 in 2023 will also get a $250 lump sum payment, to be sent out in early spring.

“With the Working Canadians Rebate, we are putting money directly into the pockets of the middle class, those who have worked so hard to beat inflation,” Brome-Missisquoi MP and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge said in a statement. “This [tax moratorium] will deliver meaningful savings for all by making essentially all food GST-free, providing real relief at the cash register. We encourage Parliament and all parties to get this legislation passed quickly and unanimously, so workers and working families get more money in their pockets.”

“The economy is picking up strength in Canada, as well as in Brome-Missisquoi, but grocery prices don’t seem to be keeping pace. With the holiday season just around the corner, expenses are adding stress to what should be a festive time. To help you take a breather, we are offering a new grocery and seasonal shopping tax holiday, as well as a new $250 rebate for workers. We hope this boost will allow people in Brome-Missisquoi and across Canada to fully enjoy the magic of the holidays with their loved ones.”

The rebate, according to federal government calculations, would allow a family to recoup $100 for every $2,000 spent on eligible goods. It is expected to cost the government $1.6 million.

Although Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island will stop charging harmonized sales tax on eligible goods during the moratorium, according to a federal government statement, Quebec does not plan to stop charging its own 9.975 per cent sales tax.

Opposition leaders predictably panned the proposal. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the tax break a “trick.” Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters he didn’t understand the intentions behind the proposal, saying, “When the Liberals need billions of dollars to literally buy votes, they find it.” Blanchet did not say whether his party planned to support the proposal. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pledged to remove the GST permanently on basic household goods and monthly bills such as household internet should his party eventually form government. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, for its part, said it was in favour of tax cuts in principle, but was concerned the brief rebate would create bureaucratic and administrative complications for businesses.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Reduce, reuse, recycle, recirculate; the ten-year sustainable development plan released by the MRC Brome-Missisquoi earlier this month aims to do a bit of all of that. The plan is focused on the circular economy – the idea of an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products.

In an introductory note, prefect Patrick Melchior explained that the ten-year plan had become necessary in light of the sweeping changes the MRC has experienced in the last few years, notably an increase in population, a housing shortage and climate challenges including drought. “It has become essential to update the plan to show resilience and innovation, while staying true to our values.”

MRC representatives met with businesspeople, citizens’ groups and elected officials and conducted a public opinion survey and a consultative forum while piecing the plan together.

Although economic and ecological objectives are often presented in opposition to one another, the MRC took a different tack, framing the economy as a means of improving social and environmental conditions, within the limits imposed by natural resources and conservation imperatives. “Preservation of biodiversity, ecological connectivity, conservation and restoration of natural environments, sustainable and integrated management of water resources [and] social inclusion” are among the plan’s stated aims.

The plan also “aims to establish conditions conducive to innovation and the development of growth sectors, while encouraging the adoption of responsible and sustainable economic practices.”

Melchior said the MRC aims to “work on new economic projects” integrating economic and environmental imperatives. Several years ago, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he and three colleagues travelled to Denmark to learn more about “industrial symbiosis” – powering one industry with the otherwise-unused byproducts of another. In the intervening years, this approach has gained more attention in Quebec, notably in Quebec City, where a new composting program sends food waste to be processed into natural gas to heat homes and agricultural fertilizer, and in the Lower St. Lawrence, where grain residue discarded by microbreweries is processed into animal feed.

“We want to be a sort of transmission belt to support these kinds of projects in Brome-Missisquoi – how can we manage to help a company reduce its carbon footprint [and find uses for its byproducts]?”  he speculated.

The plan contains a long list of intended actions over the next decade, notably making green spaces more accessible, preserving and restoring wetlands, improving the region’s wastewater management strategy, developing sustainability guidelines for development projects, encouraging businesses to adapt “green” practices and improving public transit in Brome-Missisquoi and Haute-Yamaska

The full plan can be consulted on the MRC website.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Mayors in several Brome-Missisquoi municipalities are facing unpleasant budget decisions after learning the cost of Sureté du Québec (SQ) service for 2025. In Brome Lake, the bill the municipality received was about 11 per cent higher than last year, Mayor Richard Burcombe told the BCN; in Sutton, the increase was just under 10 per cent, and in Farnham, nine per cent. Farnham mayor Patrick Melchior told the BCN previous year-on-year increases were about five per cent.

Half of the SQ’s estimated $850-million annual budget is paid by municipalities, using a formula based on each town’s population, tax base and the planned number of police officers serving the region. The tax base itself is calculated based on property values, which have shot up in Brome-Missisquoi in recent years – particularly in Brome Lake, which saw an increase of over 50 per cent in its most recent tax roll. In that light, Burcombe said, the increase “is not really surprising.”

“We’re going to reduce the [property tax rate], but we’re still going to have to make up the $269,000 [SQ fee increase],” he added. “We’re paying for the towns that have a smaller tax base but a higher workload due to certain needs.”

Burcombe pointed out that municipalities in the region are paying a higher cost for fewer police officers than in recent years. “It was probably at the beginning of this year, we lost three [SQ] patrol people,” he said. “I know salaries have gone up, but this is an increase [in the service fee] while services are being cut. … If there’s a serious incident, the [local] SQ can call on [their counterparts in] Haute-Yamaska or Waterloo or on the highway patrol, but for things like visibility and speeding, it’s as if they don’t exist.”

“They are reducing the number of officers, but at the same time, there’s a growing population, more traffic, longer patrol routes, more problems like homelessness and mental health. The equation isn’t working,” said Melchior, who is also prefect of the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi. “We have passed resolutions, tried to talk with [the Ministry of Public Safety], they have said they would review service in 2026 but other than that we haven’t had any echoes.”

Burcombe’s counterpart in Sutton, Robert Benoit, said the town’s budgetary breathing room has been “almost erased” by the increase in SQ costs, which will have to be borne by taxpayers. “We have to defend that to citizens, saying, ‘We don’t have the choice.’” He acknowledged that the impact on taxes and other town services won’t be fully clear until the budget comes out next month.

There is no procedure in place for municipalities to contest their SQ bill. The Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) has written an open letter calling on the province to “take measures to reduce the impact” of the increased costs. Joé Deslauriers is the mayor of Saint-Donat in the Mauricie region and the head of the UMQ local municipalities caucus. “More than 30 municipalities have had increases of over 20 per cent and more than 150 have had at least 10 per cent. In Saint-Donat, the bill went up by 15 per cent and we have two fewer police officers,” he said. “I’m not putting in doubt the workload of a police officer, I’m not putting in doubt the new collective agreement or the increase in costs, but we need more predictability.”

According to Deslauriers, 1,040 municipalities in the province rely on the SQ for policing. All of the municipalities in Brome-Missisquoi are on this list, with the exception of Bromont, which has its own police service. Brome Lake dismantled its police service in 2002. Although reviving it would end the town’s reliance on the SQ, Burcombe said that would be easier said than done. “There’s a cost that comes with having your own police service. It would be a whole different ballgame, we’d have to build a police station, we’d have the whole problem of recruitment…and according to the Police Act, we don’t have a large enough population to have our own police. It’s not as easy as just saying, ‘Bring back the police.’”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Nearly 95 per cent of candidate nurses who took their exams on Sept. 23 passed, the Ordre des infirmiers et infirmières du Québec (OIIQ), the professional order which regulates nursing in the province, announced late last week. The pass rate was 98.1 per cent for graduates of Quebec nursing programs and 83.8 per cent for those who had studied outside Canada. The pass rate for the CEGEP Champlain-Lennoxville nursing program was 100 per cent.

“Clinical service centres can now welcome 2,760 new nurses, to the greatest benefit of the Quebec population,” the OIIQ said in a statement.

In January 2023, the province’s commissioner of admission to professions, André Gariépy, launched an investigation into the exam, concerned about its quality and reliability.  Gariépy’s report found the exam was flawed to the point that its “validity was questionable.” In November of that year, one in every three candidates failed. Although candidates get as many as three attempts to pass the exam, the OIIQ later decided that attempts between September 2022 and March 2024 would not count, and announced plans to overhaul the exam. The order initially announced plans to administer a Quebec version of the US-based NCLEX-RN exam before putting those plans on an “indefinite pause” amid translation and interoperability concerns.

“The ongoing work to review the admission examination process, resulting from the recommendations of the latest report of the Commissioner for Admission to Professions, is to the satisfaction of the Office des professions du Québec. The OIIQ continues to work with its collaborators to support candidates for the practice of the nursing profession in the preparation and success of their path,” the order said Nov. 8.

“These emerging nurses are in a position to play a real pivotal role in health in all regions of Quebec. I welcome them to the profession and wish them great success! Furthermore, I would like to thank the OIIQ work teams and all the partners involved in this process,” said OIIQ president Luc Mathieu in a press release.

Both the OIIQ and the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), the province’s largest nursing union, said they would not comment further on the exam situation.

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Coalition Avenir Québec government intends to table a bill requiring new graduates of Quebec medical schools to work for a certain period of time in the province’s public medical system before the holiday recess, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christian Dubé has confirmed.

On Nov. 6, Premier François Legault said in a National Assembly news conference that he was ready to use the notwithstanding clause, if necessary, to make sure the new law was applied and new doctors graduating from one of the province’s four medical schools either practiced in the public system or reimbursed part of their tuition. “This is too important. We have a lack of doctors. There’s a lack of doctors everywhere. Well, the doctors who are trained at Quebec taxpayers’ expense must practice in Quebec.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) noted that 775 of the province’s 22,479 practicing doctors practiced exclusively in the private sector, “a tendency that was particularly pronounced for new doctors.” It’s also possible for a doctor to alternate between public and private practice multiple times a year, or to leave the province and practice elsewhere.

“While too many Quebecers are still waiting to be treated, too many doctors decide, early in their careers, to leave the Quebec public network. We will take steps to ensure that the population has access to the care they pay for. Our government has the courage to take all necessary steps to strengthen doctors’ commitment to the population and our public network,” Dubé said in a statement. “This measure is part of a series of other measures to strengthen our public network and attract our professionals to work there, early in their careers.”

“We remind the government that the best way to retain specialist physicians in the public health network is to give them the means to provide care. Currently, the lack of technical platforms and personnel, among other things, too often prevents specialist physicians from practicing properly. And let us add that if this type of obligation were to apply to physicians, it should also apply to other health professionals, many of whom are also leaving the public sector for the private sector,” wrote the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec in a statement. The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec, the province’s family doctors’ union, preferred not to comment until the bill was tabled.

Dr. Pierre Fontaine is a resident pediatrician and a consultant doctor on the board of Médecins québécois pour la régime public (MQRP), which advocates for increased investment in the public medical system. “We were very surprised when this came out,” he said. “It’s a good thing that the minister is realizing the importance of the problem of young doctors going private.” MQRP also called on the government to consider expanding the law to other health professions.

“Ideally, we want the only medicine to exist to be public medicine,” he added. “The more doctors that leave the public system, the longer wait times will be.” Fontaine also said Quebec should consider overhauling its permit delivery system, which sometimes creates situations where “people who want to do family medicine [in the public system] are offered a permit for a CHSLD or to do obstetrics.”

Fontaine said he doesn’t think most graduating doctors will “desert” the province if new requirements come into force. “It will be a minority of doctors who have already made a prior decision to practice elsewhere.”

“When doctors’ training is financed with public funds, it’s normal that they give back,” said Pierrette Messier of the Bedford Pole Health Committee, who, like Fontaine, said she believes the only medical system should be the public system.

She said she believed the bill would help bring doctors to underserved regions of the province. “We’re a big, big province where there are a lot of remote regions, and this will probably help. I think [the new proposal] is sensible. We’ll see how it’s put into practice.”

“I can’t comment on a bill I haven’t seen, but we really want to solve the problem of getting doctors into the region,” said Townshippers’ Association executive director Denis Kotsoros. “It’s expensive to train doctors, and to see them jump out of the system right away is disappointing. I can understand [the government’s] frustration, but we have to be rational.” He pointed out that it remained to be seen how the bill would affect anglophones, graduates from out of province or doctors from francophone communities outside Quebec who study in Quebec as part of university partnerships. “What does this mean for francophone communities outside Quebec?”

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

If your child’s daycare opened half an hour late on Monday, you’re not alone. Thousands of in-home daycare centres across the province opened late as members of the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec (FIPEQ), a CSQ-affiliated union which represents 12,000 educators in subsidized in-home and public daycare centres, sought to put pressure on the provincial government to reach a satisfactory collective agreement. Public daycare centres staffed by FIPEQ members are expected to open late on Fridays starting Nov. 15.

Union representatives say they have been working without a collective agreement since April 2023. They are calling for salary increases above inflation over the next three years, additional vacation and training days and the possibility to hire more support staff and special education technicians.

They say entry-level educators in particular (whose starting salary is $21.60/hour) struggle to make ends meet, and current salaries and working conditions make it hard for public daycare centres to attract and keep early-career educators. The union wants the lowest pay grade eliminated and other pay grades increased by $2.86/hour retroactive to April 2023, inflation + 3 per cent retroactive to April 2024 and inflation + 4 per cent in 2025.  “There’s a lack of places in daycare centres, so we can’t allow ourselves to lose any educators,” said FIPEQ-CSQ vice president Sylvi Boisclair. “We need to protect our centres from inflation so they stay open.”

FIPEQ-CSQ president Anne-Marie Bellerose made a connection between working conditions for educators and a May 2024 auditor general’s report that stated that over 40 per cent of day-care centres (public, private and in-home) failed provincial quality evaluations.

“We understand that parents are worried about late openings, but it’s high time that the government chooses to concern itself with early childhood education,” said Bellerose at a press conference in Montreal. “We’re the first link in the chain of the education system, and we work with children during a crucial period in their development that will affect them for the rest of their lives. However, the network has been neglected to the extent that the auditor general’s office is worried about the quality of service.”

Bellerose said government subsidies to cover operating expenses also need to go up. Some subsidized daycare centres may leave the public system and go private if a solution can’t be found, she said.

The FIPEQ-CSQ is not the only early childhood educators’ union raising concerns about pay and working conditions. Daycare educators at a CSN-affiliated union are also in negotiations, and recently voted to launch a five-day strike “when the time is right.”

Bellerose said the Treasury Board “didn’t necessarily have a negative attitude” at the table, but negotiations were progressing extremely slowly. She added that the union had invited Treasury Board secretary Sonia LeBel to spend a day at a daycare centre “so she can see what it’s like.” Their invitation had not received a response as of this writing.

“We know parents are going to have to deal with repercussions. We’re all aware of that – we’re all moms here, so we’re going through the same thing. But if [parents] want service tomorrow, next year, five years from now, for their grandkids, we need to act now,” she said.