(Petite-Rivière-Saint-François) Lison Harrisson remembers the surprise. Two years ago, she was passing through Petite-Rivière-Saint-François when she came up against the closed door of the convenience store.
The poster on the door left no doubt: the business was closed for good. For the small village of nearly 900 souls, nestled at the foot of one of the most beautiful ski resorts in eastern North America, the closure of the only convenience store and single gas station was a big blow.
“The closest gasoline was 25 minutes from here, in Baie-Saint-Paul. So if you ran out it was an hour round trip. ”
Then, Mme Harrisson was surprised again, this time by his reaction. The woman from Quebec turned to her husband and said: “We’re going to buy it! ”
Finally, we left everything, we sold everything. I left my job that I had for 25 years in Quebec. Subsequently, my partner quit his job and we are both here full time.
Lison Harrisson, owner of the village grocery store in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François
The couple relaunched the small grocery store in the village, to the relief of many “Local residents”, the pretty kind of inhabitants.
PHOTO GABRIEL BÉLAND, THE PRESS
While the number of second and tourist residences is growing, the old village heart of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François is stagnating.
The story of the convenience store may seem trivial. However, it symbolizes what has been happening here for years: the development of a leading ski resort with the Massif, the construction of hundreds of second or tourist residences, but the stagnation of the old village heart.
The Municipality’s Special Planning Program (PPU) made an implacable observation two years ago.
“The problem can be summed up as follows: the village sector has not benefited from the recreational and tourism boom in the Massif over the past decades. On the contrary, it has experienced a commercial devitalization, despite a growth in vacationing on the territory of the Municipality ”, we can read.
An opportunity to seize
The opening of Club Med de Charlevoix on December 3 therefore represents for the two candidates for mayor and several citizens met in Petite-Rivière a golden opportunity to revive the village heart.
There are of course concerns. There is the small cul-de-sac road, with its steep slope, intended to accommodate more cars and coaches.
There is the tranquility, the tranquility of this little paradise by the river, which some are afraid of losing. There is the word “Tremblant”, heard a few times, especially in the mouths of those who dread this scenario.
But there is also the hope of attracting new residents and new businesses to this much-needed village.
“We need other businesses, we have to revitalize the village commercially. We need a lively village where people want to live, ”launches mayoral candidate Jean-Guy Bouchard firmly.
The 70-year-old man knows Petite-Rivière well. He was born there. And he was mayor from 1988 to 2009.
His time as mayor ended in some controversy since he had been declared disqualified from sitting by the courts. The former mayor had not withdrawn at the time of the deliberations on the installation of the water supply network and the sewers in an area where he owned land and real estate.
Mr. Bouchard has always claimed his innocence. And now he would like to replace the outgoing mayor, Gérald Maltais.
PHOTO GABRIEL BÉLAND, THE PRESS
The former mayor of Petite-Rivière Jean-Guy Bouchard, again candidate for mayor, would like to “revitalize the village” on the commercial level.
I have a vision for the residential component in the heart of the village. We want to allow young families to set up. Vacationing is economically attractive, but often people are passing through.
Jean-Guy Bouchard, candidate for mayor of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, of which he was mayor from 1988 to 2009
Lison Harrisson, owner of the village grocery store, wonders if his business will benefit from the windfall.
“It’s the unknown. We don’t know what it will bring. When we talk about a resort, we stay around the pool… Are people going to leave the resort? The employees will surely want to go out! ”
Housing that is scarce
The other candidate for mayor is an outgoing councilor who knows his files well. Serge Bilodeau also sees Club Med as an opportunity to be seized, with the 300 or so jobs he must create.
“The idea, we will not hide it, is that with the upcoming Club Med, we will need housing for workers. The goal is to have maximum retention, ”explains Mr. Bilodeau.
But housing for workers is scarce. Here, only 45% of residences are permanently occupied. The rest is made up of second homes and tourist residences.
Some 300 houses have been built over the past 12 years. Almost all are tourist or secondary residences.
Many of these new constructions were erected on the “plateaux” which overlook the village, near the 138, far from the rue Principale. Those who stay there often never set foot in the village. You can get to the ski resort without going through rue Principale.
The candidate for mayor Serge Bilodeau explains that projections from the municipality have concluded that if tourist residences were not better supervised, in the long term, nearly half of all the suburbs of the municipality would be covered.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SERGE BILODEAU
Outgoing councilor Serge Bilodeau hopes to be elected mayor of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François on November 7.
Seeing that, we said to ourselves: wow, this is not working. If we want permanent residences, families, we have to make sure that these people, when they are built, do not end up with a tourist residence next to them. We call it a neighborhood life.
Serge Bilodeau, candidate for mayor of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François
“Yes, we are a tourist region. But we should not bet everything on it, ”adds Serge Bilodeau.
The municipality has since adopted a by-law to limit tourist residences. But the effect is not yet felt. Future Club Med workers are struggling to find affordable housing in the village. Many will also be housed in Baie-Saint-Paul.
Regardless of who wins on November 7, the two mayoral candidates say they are aware of the unique opportunity presented to them to revive the heart of the village.
And already things are better. The convenience store reopened in 2019 thanks to Lison Harrisson’s crush. The school service center is no longer talking about closing the school.
“15 years ago, we talked more about decline than growth in Petite-Rivière, notes the outgoing mayor, Gérald Maltais. Our population had dropped to 700; there, we are close to 900. It was in the plans of the school board to close the school of Petite-Rivière! ”
The 75-year-old man, who has served three terms as mayor, agrees that development “worries” a good part of the population.
” It’s certain. We must be very attentive to what is to come. It worries me, but it doesn’t panic me. I think things are well aligned for Petite-Rivière. ”
150 : Number of positions that Club Med seeks to fill. He therefore began to organize open days at the beginning of October.
703 : Number of inhabitants of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François during a demographic low reached in 2006. There would be nearly 900 today, according to the outgoing mayor.