A mobilization is organized in Abitibi-Témiscamingue so that a corrective action can be taken by Premier François Legault in favor of representativeness of the region within the Council of Ministers.
Last week, the Prime Minister formed a cabinet made up of 30 members of the Coalition avenir Québec, but he ignored the three elected Caquistes from Abitibi-Témiscamingue. In addition, he entrusted a deputy from the Outaouais region, Mathieu Lacombe, with responsibility for Abitibi-Témiscamingue in the Council of Ministers.
The president of the Conference of Prefects of Abitibi-Témiscamingue (CPAT), Sébastien D’Astous, wants to meet the Prime Minister in Quebec about what he describes as a lack of sensitivity towards the Abitibi-Témiscamingue, its development and what this vast territory represents for the prosperity of all of Quebec, he said.
The vice-president of the CPAT and prefect of the MRC d’Abitibi-Ouest, Jaclin Bégin, adds that all the chambers of commerce in the region and former deputies have already intervened to ensure that the region is represented in the Council of Ministers. .
Last week, a former PQ minister from the region and former president of the National Assembly, François Gendron, said on this subject that Premier Legault’s decision was inappropriate and disrespectful, and that it made no sense. .
François Gendron was elected Parti Québécois MP for Abitibi-Ouest in 1976 and was re-elected ten times thereafter. He held several ministerial positions until 2018, the year he left politics.
The CPAT press release indicates that the Council of Ministers also does not include representatives from Nord-du-Québec and Gaspésie/Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the so-called “remote” regions, and that it does not there are only four for the regions of Côte-Nord, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Outaouais and Bas-Saint-Laurent. The CPAT therefore wonders if the relative power of the regions within the Council of Ministers is in danger.
The Conférence des préfets de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue brings together the city of Rouyn-Noranda and the four territories of the Regional County Municipalities (RCMs) of the region, which has 147,700 inhabitants and is made up of 64 municipalities.