Headlines from this weeks SPEC

Jan. 27, 2002

Plane missing in the Gaspe
Gilles Gagne

As we went to press, on January 22nd, the Canadian Army Search and Rescue teams, as well as some civilian experts in the same field, were still trying to find a small plane with two people on board. They had left the Gaspe airport on January 20th, a little after 4 o'clock PM.
Two days of very active search were not enough to find the plane, a Piper Cherokee PA-28, owned by Air Tuteurs, from St. Hubert, near Montreal. The identity of the two people, a man, 19, and a woman, 25, was not revealed by the Surete du Quebec, also involved in the Search and Rescue operations. The couple consists of a pilot and an apprentice. According to a witness at the Gaspe airport, the woman speaks with a French accent from France.

Laurentian Bank to sell five buildings , but rules out branch closures
Gilles Gagne

NEW CARLISLE - The Laurentian Bank has decided to sell the five buildings housing a majority of its branches in the Gaspe Peninsula. But a spokesperson for the financial institution at its Montreal head office rules out any closure of any of these branches, located in New Richmond, New Carlisle, Paspebiac, Port-Daniel and Murdochville.
The bank has hired a representative, Colliers International (Quebec) Inc., to seek potential buyers and to give information about the sale of these properties. Colliers represents Laurentian Bank in Quebec, but also in Ontario and Manitoba. The Bonaventure branch rents its office space.

Call centre: Three municipalities waiting for ACI Telecentrics' decision
Gilles Gagne

NEW CARLISLE - Three Bay of Chaleurs municipalities, Caplan, Bonaventure and Paspebiac are eagerly awaiting the decision of an American company, ACI Telecentrics, about the location of a call centre that would create at least 200 jobs, starting in June of this year.
According to Claude Boivin, from Vision-Quebec, the group in charge of attracting call centres to the province, it is a "matter of hours, maybe days", before the board of the Minnesota-based firm decides where in the MRC of Bonaventure the call centre will be located.