Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to an article about a Danford conundrum (Mayors reject Alleyn and Cawood request to pause legal action, THE EQUITY, March 26, 2025).
The manner in which the MRC Pontiac is attempting to collect the inflated MRC fees due to the “flawed evaluation process” from Alleyn and Cawood, before the tax assessment case is settled, is akin to being guilty before trial. This is undemocratic.
Was the MRC forewarned about an increased evaluation and therefore put it in their million dollar surplus budget before it even happened? Would the MRC Pontiac have collapsed had that misfortune not fallen on Alleyn and Cawood leaving the MRC Pontiac short by $138,000?
For the MRC to use as its core reason the accountants’ suggestion that the $138,000 is needed to supplement its already two million dollar surplus, is wholly laughable. Feeble reasons. “Don’t count your money until it’s in your pocket” is my own motto, sound accounting.
Viewed from an outside perspective, these persistant, rushed, coerced and aggressive measures by MRC Pontiac to bully one of its poorest and smallest municipalities to bend to its will are deplorable and shameful. Basically, stealing their lunch money.
A bigger issue to discuss should have been the wasted $125,000 spent on the Deloitte proposal for the unpopular incinerator scheme, which is roughly the same amount for which Alleyn and Cawood is being shamefully and prematurely pursued by the MRC’s legal action with law firm Deveau Dufour Mottet Avocats. The MRC is intimidatingly striking while their iron is hot before Alleyn and Cawood can get its footing whilst awaiting word from Quebec’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH) as to whether it will compensate the municipality for the $138,000 in shares it believes it was overcharged by the MRC.
There should be unison and amicable debates amongst the mayors to solve these issues and to not sow divisions and also not waste taxpayer money on lawyers. So a suggestion that maybe both sides can lower the temperature by laying down their swords and picking up pen and paper and come to a
mutual and fair arrangement for all concerned.
Alleyn and Cawood’s quest for fairness is totally justifiable. Perhaps removing some of the bureaucracy would be helpful.
Claude Schnupp, Kazabazua
