SPEC, April 27, 2003

Nathalie Normandeau and Nancy Charest disagree on location of Technocentre Eolien
Gilles Gagné

MARIA - Liberal Member of National Assembly for Bonaventure Nathalie Normandeau disagrees with her colleague Nancy Charest, elected in Matane on April 14th, about the location of the Technocentre Eolien, actually situated in Gaspé.

Nancy Charest, in a debate during the lectoral campaign and later in an interview with Le Soleil, said that she would work to move the head office of the Technocentre Žolien from GaspŽ to Matane, notably based on the fact that her riding in on the side of the new government and the GaspŽ riding decided to reelect Parti Québécois candidate Guy Leliévre, an MNA now in the Opposition. She also added that the economic situation of the Gaspé area is not as alarming as it used to be, while her priority for her riding consists in developing wind energy.

Nathalie Normandeau replied that she did not hear Nancy Charest's comment, but she quickly pointed out that she does not favor that type of strategy.

A Wal-Mart store in Paspébiac? Not soon, says the Mayor of Paspébiac
Gilles Gagné

Paspébiac Mayor Regent Bastien rules out any short term announcement of the construction of a Wal-Mart store within the limits of his municipality, but he does not exclude possible developments in the "medium" term.

Mr. Bastien is well aware that the rumor has it that a Wal-Mart store will soon be built in Paspébiac, but he has had contacts with managers of the company in Ontario and there is no announcement in the air.

Murdochville mayor wants a meeting with new premier
Charlene Eden 

            With a victory by the Liberal government, Murdochville Mayor Marc Minville hopes that the town will finally see a resolution to its current problems.  Mr. Minville has made a formal request to meet with Jean Charest, Quebec’s new premier, to talk about the town’s future.  The request for the meeting is at least a partial result of a promise made by Mr. Charest during the election campaign to take a hard look at the present situation in Murdochville. 

At the end of March, Mr. Charest wrote a letter to the Citizen’s Committee of Murdochville explaining his party’s position on the town’s future.  “In the days following the April 14th election, a Liberal government will move rapidly to conduct a realistic and lucid analysis of potential revival projects for the municipality of Murdochville.  If this process permits the identification of revival projects that are able to ensure the survival of the municipality, a Liberal government will be ready to support them.  If no feasible revival projects have been identified by the end of this analysis, a Liberal government will act with diligence to put in place an equitable compensation and relocation program that respects the popular will,” he said.