However, Jeannois capital Alma will switch to riding Jonquière, an aberration, according to Bloc member for Lac-Saint-Jean Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.

I am shocked. This proposal was never on the table when it came to making our statements to the Commission, when all the elected representatives from Lac-Saint-Jean and some from Saguenay introduced themselves at hearings in September. Now we get it as practically final decisions when it doesn’t make sense he lamented in an interview on the show It’s never the same.

He thinks we’re recreating a historical error committed in the past with the annexation of Alma to Jonquière. The situation was rectified in the mid-2010s following complaints from elected officials.

That mistake was even cited as an example by several interest groups during the passage of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Quebec, MP Brunelle-Duceppe recalled.

It is a blatant disregard for the elected officials who have come and submitted briefs. It’s even humiliating […]. They’re uprooting the largest town on Lac Saint-Jean to send them on a horseback riding excursion to Saguenay noted Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, recalling that Alma is the main economic and cultural center of Lac-Saint-Jean.

The block sees a lack of consideration and, above all, a lack of knowledge of the territory and people of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean

If the small communes at the head of the lake remain in the riding of Lac-Saint-Jean, the new version of the federal electoral map will ensure that communes such as Saint-David-de-Falardeau, Saint-Charles-de-Bourget , Saint- Honoré and Bégin will be uprooted as they will land at Lac-Saint-Jean.

” startled her [la Commission], it’s just a matter of arithmetic. Politics is fundamentally human. It’s not just statistics. We have no choice but to say that the people who cut out the voting cards are totally separate from the population living in those areas. »

Even with the hearings over, there remains one final step that will allow Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe to try anything and try to turn the tide.

Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie, who had three trips, find themselves with just two. According to Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, this is a significant loss of representativeness at the expense of the municipalities.

Consultations are also taking place in the other Canadian provinces. The bloc member believes the redistribution proposals are sparking dissatisfaction across Quebec.

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe should be able to present his point of view by mid-March. He intends to meet beforehand with all elected municipal officials and affected prefectures to bring their voices to the municipalities.

The redistribution is scheduled to take effect in 18 months.

With Frederic Tremblay