GASTON ALLARD

Caleb Nickerson
FORT COULONGE Nov. 1, 2017
Local educator hopes to bring new blood to council:
A local educator is one of the mayoral candidates seeking the top seat in the municipality of Fort Coulonge, left open by former mayor and candidate for warden, Raymond Durocher.
Gaston Allard has lived in the municipality his whole life and works as a teacher in Campbell’s Bay. Though he hasn’t served on council, he has been heavily involved in various community groups like minor hockey, organizing the Fort Coulonge Carnival and working at Le Patro, where he gained experience seeking out funding for different projects.

He said he was prompted to run for office after becoming frustrated with the state of local affairs.
“In Fort Coulonge, there has been a lack of communication between the municiapality and the citizens. It’s been something that has plagued this place over the last five or ten years,” he said. “Nobody knows what’s going on … When this happens, people stop being interested.”
He said his number one priority if elected would be to increase communication and try to return the community to the positive environment he remembers growing up.
“There was this sense of family in this town as I grew up. That was my favorite part of being from here,” he said. “The way it’s been going the past few years it’s a very divisive environment.”
He said he would work to bring back the local recreation association and try to introduce a participative budget, where ratepayers decide what is done with a portion of the municipal budget.
Allard said he was in favour of studying amalgamation with the municipality of Mansfield et Pontefract.
“It’s obvious we have to work together, no matter what happens,” he said. “We are two municipalities but everyone that lives here knows that it’s one community. We can’t ignore that reality.”
He said that the government that is elected on Nov. 5 will need to take decisive action if they are to curb the rural exodus that is affecting not only Fort Coulonge, but the Pontiac as a whole.
“Our young people are leaving and they’re not coming back,” he said. “We need to act fast.”

JACQUES MASSEAU

Caleb Nickerson
FORT COULONGE Nov. 1, 2017
Council vet sets sights on mayor’s seat:
A long-time councillor and small-business owner is looking to make the leap to the position of mayor in the municipality of Fort Coulonge.
Jacques Masseau has lived in the area his whole life and has served on council for the past 14 years. He has also been a school board commissioner for ten years and currently drives a school bus and operates a small business.
He said that the biggest challenge facing his community is the flight of local businesses from the downtown core.
“There’s eight or nine buildings that are empty on our main street,” he said. “We have to try to bring back small business. There’s no miracle cure for that right now but we’ve got to try and find a way to bring it back.”
Masseau said that during his time on council he took part in many files, from the fire brigade to the recycling committee.
He is also in favour of a study to look at the potential benefits of amalgamating Fort Coulonge with the municipality of Mansfield et Pontefract.
“I want to sit with everybody on the council and even people that have ideas about how we can do things differently,” he said. “But we have to bring new business in. It’s not going to be big business. Our town used to be filled with small businesses, now there’s nothing. The bank’s even gone.”
He said that despite these challenges, he wouldn’t move
“I’ve lived here all my life and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” he said.