Headlines from this weeks SPEC

Nov. 24, 2002

Murdochville: A Pig’s Paradise?
Commentary, by Cynthia Dow

Well, I’ve heard it all now.

Murdochville, if you can believe recent news stories, may soon be home to millions of pigs.

That’s right, our Murdochville. Up in the mountains. With nary a field of corn or grain in view. Grain probably wouldn’t even grow there if there was topsoil. Which there isn’t.

According to reports last week in the SPEC and Le Soleil, two companies who are into industrial hog farming have got their eyes on Murdochville. One is promising 900 jobs, the other 500.

Youth get more money, to bring people back to the Gaspe
Plane fares will be reduced
Gilles Gagne

QUEBEC CITY - Delegates of the Gaspe Peninsula and Magdalen Islands at the Rendez-vous national des regions, held last week in Quebec City, were able to convince the Quebec Government to kick in more money for youth, and let young leaders take a more active role in deciding how to use these funds.
For months, Francois Roussy, president of the Forum Jeunesse Gaspesie-ëles-de-la-Madeleine, had been asking for a decentralization of funds devoted to youth. He had also expressed the wish to use a sizeable portion of these funds to raise the capital of the Fondation Rene-Levesque, in order to be able to count on a yearly source of money for projects submitted by youth.
Measures to bring back Gaspesian youth living outside the region, or young people period, are highly considered by Francois Roussy as ways to spend these funds. But until last week, provincial norms were greatly reducing the flexibility required to implement taylor-made means for the Gaspe.

Summer tourism season sees a small improvement over last year
ATR looking to improve on this year’s numbers
Charlene Eden

At the recently held tourism colloquium in Gaspe, the Regional Tourism Association (ATR) made public how this past summer tourist season compared to last year. The season was slightly better than the previous one; however, ATR is looking to both lengthen the season and heighten the number of tourists coming to the region.

According to statistics put forth by ATR, the 2002 summer tourist season, consisting of June, July, August and September, had a 4.5% overall increase in the number of visitors to the region compared to 2001. In terms of accommodation rentals, there was a 4.6% increase, while restaurants had 4.5% more customers than last year. The number of people visiting tourist attractions and attending different events also went up by 4.4%.