Caleb Nickerson
FORT COULONGE
Oct. 26, 2017
On Thursday evening, candidates from the municipalities of Fort Coulonge and Mansfield came together with residents for a panel discussion on amalgamating the two communities at the Pontiac Conference Centre in Fort Coulonge.
Hosted by the Comité de citoyens ouvert à la fusion in Mansfield et Fort Coulonge (CCOF), the event featured 13 candidates for councillor or mayor discussing the issues for an audience of about 70 people. All mayoral candidates were present except for current Mansfield Mayor Kathleen Belec, who opposes amalgamation.

After a brief introduction by CCOF member Benoit Paré, each candidate was given a chance to introduce themselves before answering three questions: what do you see as your role and level of involvement at the municipal council level? If elected, what are the projects and actions you would initiate on your council and in your community? What is your vision in regards to the political organization and shared services of our neighboring communities?
Each of the candidates had about a minute to respond to each question and the overwhelming majority supported amalgamating the municipalities, though they differed on time-frame and whether or not more study was needed. After everyone had responded, the floor was opened up to questions from the audience.
CCOF spokesperson André Boisvert explained that amalgamation has been discussed in the region for many years.
“In May we had an information session to speak about the results of three past studies,” he said, referring to assessments done in 1999, 2002 and 2013. “Around that time or just before, we’d already started planning this night to give the candidates a chance to give us their views and talk about a possible amalgamation between our communities.”
“It’s very encouraging, most of the candidates here tonight are in favour,” he continued. “And it ranges, some are in favour of going to an amalgamation tomorrow, some favour a new study before making that decision but at least the good thing, and this is what the CCOF committee is driving for, is to bring the two communities together and get a new study done once and for all so we can make a decision based on good information.”
He said that he sees many advantages to joining the communities together, from eliminating duplicated services to streamlining the amount of public workers.
Former Fort Coulonge Mayor Hector Soucie asked several questions, focussing on the candidates from Mansfield to determine what their timeline’s for fusion would be. Overall, he was pleased with how the evening went.
“I think tonight was really productive and a lot of good questions came out, and good answers,” he said.