Charlene Eden

Liberal party members came together on February 16^th at C.E. Pouliot Polyvalent to determine whether Johnny Gerard or Marc Minville would be the next Liberal party candidate for the Gaspe County. A total of 491 people voted, with Mr. Gerard being announced the winner. The details of the vote however were not publicly announced. Mr. Gerard will now run for the Liberal Party in the provincial election to be held on April 14^th.

Before the vote, both candidates spoke to the over 400 people in attendance about the reasons why they should become the county’s Liberal candidate. In his speech, Mr. Gerard stressed his experience, knowledge of the community and his readiness to work for the people. “We need a stronger economy and for this we need good government. It’s that simple. I offer you my experience in business, my deep and profound knowledge of all the people, the French, English, and Micmac communities, whether they are in Chandler, Perce, Murdochville or Gaspé. I am now ready to devote my time to work for you and ask you to support me today so that we can go on with the next election,” he said.

Fabrication Delta delivers first wind mill tower to Fox River

Gilles Gagné

SAINT SIMEON - Fabrication Delta, of Saint Simeon, delivered, on February 14th, the first of three windmill towers that will be installed in Fox River on an experimental basis in order to adapt a French technology to Québec`s weather.

Since the steel towers were made in Saint Siméon and considering the fact that a Gaspé based company, Groupe Ohmega, will take care of the instruments and electrical wiring of the wind mill complex, the content of the Parc Eolien Renard will have a sizeable portion of material coming from Gaspesian manufacturers, much more than the two windmill farms installed in Cap Chat and Matane four years ago.

The huge 80 foot section of steel that left Saint Simeon in the early morning hours of February 14th is, in fact, only half of the full tower that will be installed before the end of the month. A 60 foot second section was trucked three days later. The two sections will be joined, and a motor, a turbine and the blades will then be added. "At the level of the turbine, the tower will be 46 meters high (152 feet). We would have been able to install the towers earlier this year, but the blades, built in Scotland, were not ready" explained François Arsenault, a shareholder of Fabrication Delta.

Feasibility study accepted for ferry service between Paspébiac & Grande Anse

Gilles Gagné

PASPEBIAC - People from both sides of the Bay of Chaleurs have been talking about establishing a ferry service between Paspebiac and Grande Anse, NB, for at least 25 years. Yet, no serious study has been done during all that time in order to verify if such a venture would make sense. These things are changing. Eight economic development and municipal bodies, including the Town of Paspebiac, are currently financing a feasibility study that will determine if a ferry service between Paspebiac and Grande Anse could be profitable.

The mandate for the feasibility study has been give to Groupe Roche by the two leaders of the project, the Town of Paspebiac and the Corporation de dŽveloppement du Grand Caraquet, an organization financially supported by six towns, including Grande Anse. In the Gaspé Peninsula, the Conseil regional de concertation et de developpement (CRCD), with about $10,000, the Centre local de developpement of the Bonaventure MRC, with $3,000, Canada Economic Development, with $13,000, and the Town of Paspebiac, which is kicking in close to $6,600 are funding the study.