It may be small and discreet, the chorus frog has interfered in the election campaign in Longueuil. The four candidates who are competing for town hall are struggling to understand how the fate of the batrachian could have taken such proportions with the approach of the ballot and they intend to try to see more clearly once the elections have passed.
“We are facing a monumental error on the part of the current team,” said Josée Latendresse, the head of Longueuil Ensemble. “I do not know how many other errors we will see the day after the elections. We had already had white-tailed deer and there, it’s the tree frog ”, recalls the one who, in 2017, had waged a hot struggle against the current mayor, Sylvie Parent. “The elected officials did not do their homework before making a decision. “
It should be remembered that the City of Longueuil carried out work on the extension of Boulevard Béliveau in order to open up the residences located in the area. Given the presence of the chorus frog, an endangered species, Quebec has granted a grant for the development of a biodiversity corridor under the extension of the boulevard.
Except that a scientific opinion written by experts from the Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks and made public only after the start of the work revealed that they will destroy the breeding habitats of the tree frog, endangering one of the last populations of the species in Quebec. On Friday, the Superior Court suspended work until November 8.
“It poses a lot of transparency problems. I can’t help but find it ironic that the work was done so that it was practically finished on November 7, underlines Catherine Fournier, head of Coalition Longueuil. I am really looking forward to shedding light on this issue. “
The other two candidates, Jean-Marc Léveillé and Jacques Létourneau, have elected officials in their teams who voted in favor of the extension project for Boulevard Béliveau. Jean-Marc Léveillé, of Longueuil Citoyen, maintains that his elected officials were kept in the dark about the threat the project represented for the tree frog. “We had the go of the Ministry of Wildlife, that of the federal government and environmentalists. Everything was beautiful. […]My elected officials said that if they had known it was endangering the tree frog, they wouldn’t have done it. [approuver le projet] », He explains.
Jean-Marc Léveillé affirms that, if he wins next Sunday, he will order an investigation into this affair: “I want to get to the bottom of things. “
Two elected members of Action Longueuil, the party of outgoing mayor, Sylvie Parent, now led by Jacques Létourneau, sit on the executive committee. “They are formal: the information that elected officials received is that the authorizations were given both by the Ministry of the Environment and by the Ministry of Wildlife,” explains Mr. Létourneau. How is it that upstream, we – and I include environmental groups here – were not more on guard on this? “
Natural environments to protect
The environment is also part of the electoral platforms of the four candidates. “It will be a priority that we identify all the wetlands in Vieux-Longueuil very well,” says Josée Latendresse. In terms of sustainable development, it intends in particular to put in place a responsible procurement policy and apply the concept of “15-minute districts”, which involves planning where essential services are accessible within a quarter of an hour on foot. or by public transport. Catherine Fournier, for her part, argues that her administration intends to protect 1,500 hectares of natural environments, including the Fonrouge and Roberval woods, not far from Boulevard Béliveau.
Jean-Marc Léveillé believes that the tree frog case makes his idea of creating an Environmental Office in Longueuil even more relevant with the help of ecologists and specialists. “When you want answers from Quebec, it takes forever,” he said. I think we are [mûrs] to have our own specialists if we want [s’occuper] of our environment. “
Citizens may be concerned about the environment, but in the field, they mostly talk about local issues that are sometimes very down to earth, notes Jacques Létourneau. They report sidewalks in poor condition, ask for the return of the weekly garbage collection rather than every two weeks and the authorization to make fires in the yards. “There is still a fight. Are people ready to change their own practices? He said.
There are only a few days left for the mayoral race. Since the start of the campaign, Catherine Fournier would benefit from a comfortable lead ahead of her opponents. The CROP poll conducted on behalf of Radio-Canada and conducted from October 7 to 16 gave him 33% of the voting intentions, against 10% for Josée Latendresse, 6% for Jean-Marc Léveillé and 4% for Jacques Létourneau. The undecided rate remains high, however, at 44%.
Catherine Fournier recognizes that these figures are “exciting”, but it is still necessary that voters go to the polls, she said. Josée Latendresse maintains that she does not perceive such a gap on the ground and that the reception is “extremely positive”.
The other two candidates agree with this. Jacques Létourneau urges his troops not to pay too much attention to the survey. “I say to my gang : “It’s like social networks, don’t listen to that”, ”he said. Jean-Marc Léveillé deplores not having been entitled to the same media attention as his opponents and accuses LCN of having excluded him from his televised debate.
In 2017, the voter turnout rate reached 33.1% in Longueuil.