EMILY HSUEH
FORT COULONGE May 26, 2021
After serving Fort Coulonge as a councillor for 12 years, Gaétan Graveline is stepping down from his role. He cited that the state of the council is what prompted him to leave.
“It’s because of the climate [of the council],” he told THE EQUITY. “People can have different opinions. But I noticed . . .
when I was saying my opinions, some people on the council didn’t want to see the other side of the situation. They were only seeing one side of the situation. But when it comes down to a situation that can cause conflict … well you have to be able to sit down, listen to others and look at both sides.”
Graveline stated that he felt frustrated when he voiced his own concerns or opinions, other members of the council did not want to take his thoughts into consideration.
First running in 2009, Graveline had a strong win against his five opponents. In his time on the council, he worked on several projects which he took pride in.
He sat on a committee that improved Chutes Coulonge, oversaw road maintenance projects and formed a committee to save the Fort Coulonge arena, which he said was “in deep, deep trouble.”
“I put the arena back running,” he explained. “I put in a conditioning gym which is a value of $125,000. I managed to get some grants to put some dehumidifiers in the rink, that was a project of $107,000. All the label work I was able to make happen and people were very happy about that because I had a good team behind me, and I still have a good team behind me.”
Though he has stepped down from his political duties for now, Graveline isn’t done with serving the community yet.
“Nothing says I can’t run for mayor without a salary in the next election,” he said. “That will be on a volunteer basis, I will take no salary, I would give my salary to the community. I don’t need the money. If I run for mayor it’s for my people. It’s for the citizens, it’s not for an income.”
Though he has not officially announced that he will be running for mayor, he is strongly considering becoming a candidate in the next election in the fall. He hopes to bring new leadership to the council and avoid the treatment that caused him to leave.
“I’m a firm believer with my leadership that priority must be taking good care of your employees,” he said. “That’s my priority in life and I was that way in the [Canadian Armed] Forces too. I had some soldiers under my command in Afghanistan and Kosovo and I know what leadership is about.
“I gladly appreciated all the effort and the trust they had in me in my time as a councillor and if I ever decide to go in as a mayor, I will need the support when the time comes,” he added.
