Dear Editor,

It is unfortunate to see a letter written by a former mayor critical of the current council in your paper. It is one thing to put it on a website his friends created but to place it in THE EQUITY for everyone to read is a bit much.

I am not going to discuss Mr. Campbell’s knowledge of municipal council management. His record speaks for itself. What I will argue though is his mention of inexperienced council members, the use of the words stupid and stupidity, the unfortunate delays of the new community center and his disrespect for the Quyon Lions Club.

A new mayor and four new councillors were elected in the municipal election in 2017. The new mayor was elected with a margin of almost 400 votes. All the new councillors were elected with strong margins. That is what the voters wanted but Campbell refuses to respect that, or them. You gain experience by being elected, as Campbell did, as I did, as everyone does. He should be allowing them to do their duties, which they were elected to do, gain experience and proceed without unwarranted criticism.

Anytime you use the words stupid or stupidity in a public letter it turns the letter into an attack instead of a discussion and does not help the situation. There is no benefit to using those words.

The new community centre may have been scheduled to be completed in February of 2018. That schedule was established by the previous council, not the current one. The previous council, less two members who opposed the construction, started the construction late in 2017 with poor financing, no contingency funds, no allowance for water and sewer connections and no allowance for parking and grounds finishing. The actual list is longer than this. Finding financing for these missed expenses is what has caused delays in opening, not any interference from the Lions Club or anyone else.

I am a proud member of the Quyon Lions Club, a former president of the club and I believe this club is second to no one when it comes to community service in our municipality. To say, or even think, that the club coerced the mayor for changes is untrue. The Waterfront Revitalization Committee, which has Lions Club members within its membership, was actually the group that met council administrators for the project. The WRC is the umbrella group for the clubs and groups that supported raising close to $250,000.00 for the new community centre and it was that group that asked for changes to the construction.

The two main changes requested were a window in the kitchen and a bar instead of a closet/storage area in the main hall. There were no structural changes requested by the WRC and any change requests were minimal and inexpensive.

Campbell states that the Lions Club refused to co-operate with the former council and that the club members were immature for doing so. I never saw Campbell at any activity and there were many, that the Lions Club or the WRC organized over the last almost ten years to raise funds for this project. The Lions Club organized a Business Appreciation Night a year ago where this project was discussed and all the council members attended, except the two that Campbell considers to have the required experience and knowledge. In June of 2017 the Quyon Lions Club held their 50th anniversary banquet. No one from the previous council attended, even though they had promised to do so. If they had attended, they would have seen the commitment of the club and the community support for the club and the community center project.

There was no intent by the previous council to include the Lions Club in this new building. Zero. The Quyon Lions Club was the main tenant/fund raiser/caretaker of the old community centre in Quyon longer than this municipality has existed. There would never have been a Beach Barn in Quyon if it were not for the Quyon Lions Club, its members and the great club supporters. A thank you, not criticism, should be given to the club and its members for this.

I lost an election to both Campbell and Mr. Larose for mayor of the Municipality of Pontiac. On both occasions I shook their hand, congratulated them and respected the wishes and decision of the municipal ratepayers. They and their supporters should do the same thing now. Let this council do their work, the work they were elected to do. If the population of the municipality is not content with their choices, changes will be made in November 2021. As Larose wrote recently in your paper, enough is enough.

I do not go on Facebook or take part in social media. I prefer to talk to people on a one to one basis. Face to face. This letter is going to be a once only and was written simply to answer back to the unfair criticism of the current council and Quyon Lions Club by Campbell.

Eddie McCann

Quyon Lions Club and WRC member

Former Mayor – Municipality of Pontiac