BAIE-SAINT-PAUL | Nearly three weeks after the exceptional floods, victims of Baie-Saint-Paul do not know what will happen to their property and are beginning to get impatient.
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This is what citizens of rue Ménard, located in the city center, told federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who was passing through on Friday to see the damage and inquire about the needs of the municipality in its reconstruction efforts.
“The rest of us are 75 and 70 years old and we don’t want to be uprooted from our corner,” calmly explained Madeleine Desgagnés, whose house – which once belonged to her grandparents – is uninhabitable after being invaded by the Gouffre River on 1is May.
At this point, a protective wall gave way under the force of the current, flooding a residential area.
“Thank you for this support, but we want quick answers, because we want to know where we are going. Do we return to the house, do we repair, or if we are elsewhere for months and months … it does not work, ”continued Mme Desgagnés, with his spouse.
photo-source position-absolute" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> Dominique Lelievre
Jean-Yves Duclos in conversation with citizen Madeleine Desgagnés.
Conversely, another citizen, Éric Larouche, wanted to know what we could offer to “those who do not wish to stay, who are tired”.
“Me, it’s been four [événements] that I live. At the time, it was my parents. Today is me. I hope they will organize a system.
In a scrum, Minister Duclos explained that the federal government was ready to provide “substantial” assistance through two funding programs, but that it was “up to the Government of Quebec to establish its priorities and then to make a request”.
“Of course there will be necessary aid to help people rebuild, resettle, in some cases, perhaps move elsewhere,” said the elected Liberal, saying he spoke about it in the morning. even with Andrée Laforest, Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs.
He was accompanied by Bloc Québécois Caroline Desbiens and Conservative Joël Godin, who insisted on their common desire to support the population.
photo-source position-absolute" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> Dominique Lelievre
The mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul, Michaël Pilote, said he was aware that the process aimed at preserving the future of the affected neighborhoods “is moving forward, but at a snail’s pace”.
He wants to pick up the pace to find “a reasonable cruising speed”, but warns that “these are still big decisions to make”.
“We saw it in other places in Quebec, it took years, then that, I find that it is unacceptable. You have to put yourself in the place of the people who are going through this disaster […] fact that we are working to get the machine going.”
In the same breath, he recalls that there is a legislative framework to be respected and analyzes to be carried out. The Municipality hopes to receive towards the end of next week the first “damage certificates” which will allow it to move forward.
Mr. Pilote also expressed the wish that the standards be simplified for municipal projects aimed at preventing shoreline erosion, while his City was refused in March following a request to the provincial government.
In Ottawa, the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund has an envelope of $1.3 billion over several years to meet the demands of provincial governments, said Mr. Duclos.
what they said
“It takes courage and hope [pour se reconstruire], then we agreed that we were going to be there to give courage and hope to the people who were affected by these terrible floods.” – Jean-Yves Duclos (PLC), Federal Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Quebec
“The fact of being brought together the three parties here, this morning, is precisely in the hope and in the event of being able to communicate more quickly, to take the pulse of the situation the three simultaneously.” – Caroline Desbiens (BQ), MP for Beauport–Côte-de-Beaupré–Île d’Orléans–Charlevoix
“We understand the situation you are going through, so we will work together with the municipal, provincial and federal authorities to find answers as quickly as possible.” – Joël Godin (PCC), MP for Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier
“I don’t have a specific deadline. […] but what we want is for things to go smoothly enough to give people precise answers.” – Michaël Pilote, Mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul
“It’s a lifetime. Me, it was my retirement that was there.” – Éric Larouche, citizen, about his residence on rue Ménard which was flooded
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