MNR quietly moves 1,200 files to Hull office:  The decision by the Ministry of Natural Resources to move all the files from its land office in Mansfield to Hull is unacceptable to the Pontiac MRC’s council of mayors.

“We’re hit once again with the closure of a service in Pontiac,” said Mansfield Mayor Robert Ladouceur, adding the office had more than the 1,200 files required to keep a regional office open.

The ministry loaded the files into a van April 18 and shipped them down to its Hull offices. Employee Ben Carriere, who lives in Mansfield, now has to travel to Hull to work four out of five days, Ladouceur said.

Ladouceur told the council of mayors at its monthly meeting April 23 that it is nonsensical to move all the files to Hull, when the clients live in this area. Equally foolish, he said, is to have Carriere working in Hull when his services are needed in Pontiac.

“This is where the action is,” Ladouceur said. “It’s like going to war but you are 200 miles from the front line.”

Valu-mart union met last night to vote on contract: A purported lockdown of the Valu-mart store in Shawville was averted when the union and store reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement in Hull Monday.

The 38 members of the Commercial Workers Union of Shawville voted last night (after press time) on the tentative agreement reached between the union and National Grocers.

This past week rumours abounded that the store would be locked by the powerful grocery chain if an agreement wasn’t reached. During that time, employees have been wearing fluorescent orange buttons calling for a fair collective bargaining agreement.