Publication Search

Good afternoon.

Thank you for welcoming me here to the committee as a witness.

I'm from the second most beautiful riding in Canada. Of course first place goes to the one you represent.

On the matter of expanding the area by adding three municipalities, I think that my colleague Luc Berthold and hon. minister Bibeau clearly said that these three municipalities have much stronger affinities with their region.

The reason why I've been given these three municipalities is that there is a population shortfall in the riding I represent. The three municipalities together have a population of 2,000. When the members of the commission considered the matter, they did not factor in the latest data for the riding. For example, over the past six months, six major battery production plants have been announced for the City of Bécancour. Last week, Ford made an announcement, and about six months ago, there was an annpuncement from General Motors.

Six similar projects have been announced. They will be worth over $500 million. They will be built on an area equal to three football fields placed end to end. These large factories will attract lots of people to the Bécancour region. What's more, only last week it was decided to rezone 500 building lots to allow for the rapid construction of housing for the people who will be working at these plants.

The Nicolet region, in the centre of the riding, is experiencing the largest residential development in its history. In the Saurel region there are currently three construction projects under way for residential buildings: one for 763 units, a second for 400 units and a third for 466 units. Not only that but three other projects are awaiting authorization. This would mean that within four or five months, in Saurel alone, there will be at least 2,200 more people living in these units, with two persons per unit.

This means that the population deficit of approximately 2,000 people mentioned in the commission's report will have been completely dealt with in Saurel, partly offset in Nicolet and largely offset in Bécancour. Within three years, there will be at least 5,000 more workers in the riding. I therefore fully agree that these three municipalities, which have no affinity with the riding I represent, should remain in the riding represented by Mr. Berthold. I trust that the members of the commission will understand.

The big problem will no doubt be in with the name change. For years, the riding has been identified by its three RCMs: Bécancour, Nicolet and Saurel. However, although there was nothing said about it during the testimony, when the initial meetings were being held and even when the final report was being prepared, it was decided to add the Abenaki community to the name of the riding. We are in agreement with that, of course, but there are two such communities: Odanak and Wôlinak.

It was therefore proposed that the City of Nicolet be replaced by Odanak. Nicolet has existed for 350 years—we celebrated this last year—and it is older than Canada. So the city has been there for a long time.

The Odanak community does not agree because it pointed out that there is also Wôlinak. I therefore wrote to the grand Council of the Wabanaki nation, Which represents both communities. I have given you a copy of the letter. It says that the Abenaki people would like to add their name to the riding without removing the name "Nicolet".

Every time I was in contact with the commissioner, Mr. Chamberland, he repeated that Odanak was going to be added. There was never any intent to remove Nicolet. This whole story almost led to a revolt in the riding. If you could only see the number of letters—I didn't send you all of them—from the people in the municipalities who wrote me in support of keeping Nicolet in the name of the riding.

Let's get back to the word "Abenaki", the name of the nation. The Abenaki people want that name added to the riding's name, but in the Abenaki language. That would mean spelling it : "Alnôbak" or "Aln8bak", making the name of the riding "Alnôbak—Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel" or "Aln8bak—Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel".

I checked and found that there were 25 names in Canada that were just as long. One such example is Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. That's pretty long.

There's also West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country.

In Quebec, we have Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix; Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques; Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs; and Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, to mention only a few.

So there are some long names, and it's fine to have names like that because, as Mr. Berthold was saying earlier, they actually designate the region where people live and enable them to know where to go when they occasionally might need services from MPs.

Yes, precisely.

The three municipalities confirmed in writing that they did not want to be annexed to the riding I represent because they have no affinities with it, whether economically, socially or culturally.

As Mr. Berthold and Ms. Bibeau said earlier, the people in these ridings prefer to stay in the social setting that they are accustomed to. These are three magnificent municipalities, but the only reason given for attaching them to my riding was to make up for a population deficit of 2,000. And yet the recent statistics show that the shortfall no longer exists.

I believe that at least 5,000 people will be added.

It would make up the deficit.

It's mainly the name that I find problematic.

All of the towns and cities in the RCM of Nicolet-Yamaska wrote me to say that they were unhappy about removing the name "Nicolet". Residents of the RCM of Bécancour also asked us to make an effort to keep the City of Nicolet in the name because it accurately designates their riding. Even the RCM of Pierre-De Saurel sent me a letter in support of keeping Nicolet in the name.

In the course of all these negotiations, it was never about removing the name of Nicolet. In the final report tabled in the House of Commons, it was all about the riding of Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, to which the name "Odanak" would be added. The Odanak community sent a letter saying that it was not "Odanak" that it wished to add, but rather the name "Abenaki", pronounced and written in the Abenaki language, because there are two Abenaki nations.

The Abenaki are a highly cultured people. One of the top commentators on Radio-Canada in the early years was Mr. Nolet. One of Canada's great opera singers, Mr. O'Bomsawin, comes from the Abenaki nation. There is also the extraordinary Abenaki Museum. In Quebec, the only CEGEP operated by and for indigenous people is located on Abenaki land. People from all the nations go there to study.

It's therefore a nation that is thriving, and it would like us to speak about the Abenaki nation in writing, in the Abenaki language, because its people are developing their language. There is also an Abenaki national anthem. In the various schools, there are many Abenaki songs. Their environment is wonderful.

In the Abenaki language, "Abenaki" Is pronounced "Alnôbak". In their letter, they specify that like they would like to add this name, without replacing Nicolet. The new name of the riding would therefore be "Alnôbak—Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel", or "Aln8bak—Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel", which would be terrific. It would accurately describe the composition of the riding. I have the unanimous support of the riding and our Abenaki friends for this name.

Yes, that's right.

I'll listen to what you have to say now.

On September 4, I will have been here for 39 years. I believe the record is held by Mr. Herb Gray, an MP from Ontario who sat for 39 years and seven months. We overlapped. There was also Mr. John Diefenbaker, who sat for 39 years and four months. Another MP sat for 39 years and two months. He was elected in 1867, the first year of Confederation.

If, as expected, there's an election in 2025, I'll enter the record books, but nobody will look at them.

When the Government of Quebec created the RCMs, its goal was to establish an economic, social and cultural development framework that would make it possible, in order to deal with things like health services, for these RCMs to have a budget and to operate in alignment with regional interests. Often, when the commission's members look into redrawing the boundaries strictly on the basis of the number of inhabitants, they do not take this highly effective administrative structure introduced by Quebec into account.

For example, the Pierre-De Saurel RCM had some wind farms built, the only ones in Quebec, and they are owned by the community, not private interests. This brings in net earnings of $1.2 million to the RCM, which redistributes this money to address collective needs. If two municipalities from a neighbouring riding are added as a result of the redistribution, they will also want their share of the pie, even though they had not taken on responsibility for the loan and had not contributed to the project. That's how complex things like this can be.

Something should therefore be done along the lines of what the minister just said. It's very important to take these economic structures into consideration when redrawing electoral boundaries in the ridings

Thank you for hearing us out.