At Bristol’s Mar. 2 council meeting, longtime councillor Greg Graham announced his decision to resign from the position after 17 years.
The announcement came after a discussion about the property at Pontiac Station for which Bristol is considering a purchase offer from the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Graham’s proposal, that the council cease any further discussion of this sale, was voted down.
“At a certain point, once a vote has been made, you kind of have to live with the decision,” said Graham in an interview last week. “I couldn’t agree to this decision in any way, so I thought I really couldn’t remain on council.”
Graham has been a vocal opponent of the sale. He said the land, one of the final remaining public waterfront lots, should remain in municipal hands. He said the lot could hold value in case the municipality someday wanted to create a park.
“The issue of public ownership of private land, of accessibility of the water for all people, not just those fortunate or wealthy enough to already own land on the water, they’re very important issues for me,” Graham said.
Over the past few months, Bristol council has been exploring its options on the sale. Council hosted an NCC representative before the February council meeting to discuss the preliminary offer. The same night, the council heard the public’s opinions on the land’s future.
Bristol mayor Valerie Twolan-Graham said the municipality has not gotten back to the NCC with an official response as there has been no official public consultation process, which she said the municipality is looking into doing.
Twolan-Graham said the NCC’s original offer to purchase the land was received by the municipality in November of last year. Former mayor Brent Orr said his council, which sat before the November election, never seriously considered selling the lot to the NCC. “We told them we wouldn’t be interested,” he said.
Councillor Graham pointed out that since then, the council has not held an official vote on whether or not to pursue selling the land.
“I didn’t want us to entertain the decision anymore because we hadn’t even decided to sell it. So why were we considering someone’s particular offer?” Graham said.
Graham said he has encountered his fair share of disagreements with council in the past, but he felt he could no longer work with the current council as he said they had “different priorities” for Bristol.
“I saw the way the council was headed, and I didn’t feel that I could be a part of it anymore.”
Twolan-Graham said Graham’s opinions and experience around the council table will be missed.
“His departure results in a loss around our table. His presence will be missed, but I respect his decision,” she said.
Orr, who worked with Graham for 17 years on council, said Graham will be missed particularly by the residents of Pontiac Station and Bristol Mines who he represented.
“He was an excellent councillor, and he had the people’s voice,” Orr said.
Looking back, Graham said his time on council has been rewarding, and that he has been able to serve with some great people over the years. He said the municipality has come a long way from when he first started.
“We still had an open dump. We had a lot of new regulations coming in from the province that we had to figure out how to get through. And the community has really grown a lot in the last 17 years – the fact that we’ve got a farmer’s market that happens all the time. We’ve been able to build the new fire station, the new construction down at the beach,” he said.
“It’s impossible for me to do my job effectively anymore, so perhaps it was time to let somebody else represent the people. There’s lots of good people in Bristol, and perhaps one of them can take the torch,” Graham said.
According to Elections Quebec’s website, a by-election must take place within about four months after council is informed of the vacancy. As of Tuesday morning, director general Christina Peck said no official letter of resignation had been received from Graham.
