Vallée-de-la-Gatineau officials decry lack of game wardens
Last Wednesday, public officials from the nearby MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau held a press conference denouncing the lack of game wardens in the region, Radio-Canada reported.
The regions of Pontiac and Vallée-de-la-Gatineau are currently served by two game wardens based in Maniwaki.
“The current situation is unacceptable. Two officers cover the entire Vallée-de-la-Gatineau territory and also have to travel into the Pontiac MRC. What kind of message are we sending to citizens, hunters, and anglers?” said Warden Chantal Lamarche, noting that 10 years ago, the Maniwaki office was staffed with 14 officers.
A representative from the union representing game wardens across the province (SAPFQ), Martin Perreault, said that there has been a reduction of about 200 wildlife officers in the past eight years across Quebec.
“The government will say that resources will be redistributed. They won’t say that they’re centralizing because that’s not a good message to send to the regions, but that’s exactly what seems to be happening,” he said.
Quebec tables expansion to Bill 101
The Quebec government tabled a bill on June 4 extending provincial language laws to adult education and vocational institutions, CBC News reported.
If the bill passes, it would limit English-language institutions solely to those who are considered members of the “historic anglophone” community.
“Studying in French means working in French, shopping in French, and living in French. We see there’s a loophole right now: adult general education and vocational training,” said Minister of the French language Jean-François Roberge. “We’re correcting that situation.”
Roberge said there would be a two-year phase-in to allow school boards to adapt.
Quebec English School Boards Association president Joe Ortona condemned the move, saying it would increase the dropout and unemployment rate.
Quebec government backtracks on co-op take over
The CAQ government has backtracked on its proposal to take over control of cooperative housing regulations in the province, the Montreal Gazette reported.
On Thursday, housing minister Karine Boivin Roy said that pushback to Bill 20, as the legislation was known, caused the government to reverse course.
“We listened to everybody, we read everything, we met partners on the field,” Boivin Roy said. “We’re listening to them, and that’s why we’re going ahead with this.”
The bill would have let the province control the resident selection process for cooperative housing, and also impose penalties on those above the allowed income bracket. Housing cooperatives are non-profit organizations that often charge lower rent than for-profit enterprises.
Patrick Préville, head of the federation representing housing co-ops in the province, called the move “very good news.”
