Lives & Legacy

When times are tough, when rising prices add to the financial pressures people struggle with, neighbours help neighbours. It is with that thought in mind that team who publishes The 1019 Report and The 1510 West have decided to host a food drive. In fact, we — along with our sponsors — are hosting two food drives. The first will be on Saturday, March 28, in the West Island to benefit West Island Mission. Please drop by McKibbin’s in Pointe Claire, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., to drop off any non-perishable food items or toiletries. Then, we turn our attention to helping Le Pont Bridging in Hudson and La Source d’Entraide in St. Lazare. On April 11, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the newspapers’ representatives will be at Cardinal Brewing in Hudson, McKibbins’ Vaudreuil and Duke & Divines in Vaudreuil-Dorion to collect food items. Hope you can join us. Let’s generate a few positive headlines together.

JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report A bylaw aimed to prevent property owners in St. Lazare from letting buildings fall into disrepair has been narrowed in scope. Originally planned to apply to all buildings in town – including sheds, barns and detached garages – this legislation will now only apply to heritage buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, multi-residential buildings and buildings that have been vacant for more than three months. “The main complaint was that people were worried about how this would be applied and how it would affect them,” Mayor Geneviève Lachance said in an interview. “Now that we’ve removed all that, I think it will reassure people.” The bylaw, which was adopted at the March 10 council meeting, aims to ensure the structural maintenance of these buildings. The legislation gives the town the power to inspect the buildings and require the owners to repair any damage or deteriorating features of the structure. Owners who fail to comply risk facing thousands of dollars in fines. The original version of this bylaw, which had been tabled in February, had aimed to apply this standard to all buildings in St. Lazare, including single-family houses and any structures on private properties. Even old backyard sheds could have subjected to the requirements under this bylaw. The Quebec government requires municipalities adopt a bylaw on maintenance of local heritage buildings by April 1, but municipal councils have the option to expand this regulation beyond maintaining purely heritage structures.District 6 Councillor Lorraine Caron had denounced the broad scope of the initial version of the bylaw, being the only member on council to vote against it in February. “I thought there would be a social acceptability problem to subject all buildings” to this bylaw, said Caron, who voted in favour of the revised version last week. While she said she doesn’t perceive this issue as being especially pronounced in her district, Caron pointed to the fact that the town does not have an inventory of all buildings in the town. This, she said, would have presented an obstacle for municipal inspectors, who would have needed to investigate, verify and keep running tabs on each complaint they receive about any derelict building or structure. “Not to mention the hassle of having an inspector come to your home and tell you, ‘Well, you need to repair your roof, you need to repair your balcony, you need to repair your walls,’ and so on,” Caron added. A public consultation Feb. 24 saw several residents voice the same concerns as Caron. Some asked about a timeline for repairs, how low-income residents would be able to afford these repairs, and how it would be determined what qualifies as being dilapidated. This response from residents pushed the city to amend this bylaw, Lachance said.“We had a lot of debates internally about this to find the right solution. But I think it’s a good compromise for now.” Local Journalism Initiative

JOSHUA ALLAN
 The 1019 Report As communities along the proposed corridor for the planned high-speed train between Quebec City and Toronto grapple with what it will mean for them, residents in this region are invited to participate in virtual information sessions hosted by the crown corporation responsible for planning and operating this service. The meeting may be of special interest to residents of Rigaud and Pointe Fortune, as these towns have been included in the path of one of the options for the potential route of the train line. An interactive map published by crown corporation Alto illustrates a potential route cutting through part of Pointe Fortune and the rural western section of Rigaud. The map itself is not a precise plan, as it sketches a corridor that is much wider than what is required. It is an area that stretches from Rigaud and about 20 kilometres across to Hawkesbury and the southern portion of Lachute. This means that the future rail line could be located anywhere within this swath. No other area of the 1019 region falls within Alto’s route projection map. TRAIN: Info meeting planned Earlier this month, residents of Chute à Blondeau, next to Rigaud, just across the Ontario border, held a protest to voice their opposition to the proposed route that would cut through their town. They were the latest community to stage a demonstration to voice their concerns The plan to build a 1,000-kilometre high-speed rail between Quebec City and Toronto was announced in 2025 by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The first segment of the line, connecting Ottawa with Laval and Montreal, is expected to break ground in 2029. The proposed project is predicted to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion, would see the train reaching speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour on mainly electrified tracks. Alto predicts that the line would get passengers between Ottawa and Montreal in one hour, and between Quebec City and Toronto in three hours. Canada is currently the only G7 country that does not have a high-speed rail line. The English-language virtual session takes place on Monday, March 23, starting at 7 p.m. This is followed by a French-language session on Thursday, March 26, also starting at 7 p.m. Those interested in attending must register at https://www.altotrain.ca/en/public-consultation/virtual-session

BRENDA O’FARRELLThe 1019 Report A demand issued last month by local political and business leaders to Santé Québec to outline its recruitment strategy to staff the new Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital has so far been met with silence, says the president of the region’s economic development agency. “It’s essential to get an answer from Santé Québec,” said Danie Deschênes, president of DEV Vaudreuil-Soulanges in an interview with The 1019 Report last week. “We still want to see the plan,” Deschênes continued, adding: “Is there a plan?” That question sums up the ever-growing worry the new hospital will fall short of its stated goal of filling 3,500 jobs and recruiting 200 doctors between now and when the facility opens in the spring of 2028. Deschênes, who is also the mayor of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, said she did not expect health officials to jump when DEV formally — and very publicly — issued the request to be brought into the loop on the hiring plan on Feb. 11, explaining regional stakeholders are willing to be patient. But they are not going to wait indefinitely, she said. A meeting with DEV officials and local members of the National Assembly —Soulanges CAQ MNA Marilyne Picard and Vaudreuil Liberal MNA Marie-Claude Nicholls — is set for this week, Deschênes said. But no details of a hiring strategy is expected to be shared. And so far there has been no word from Santé Québec officials or representatives of the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest, the regional health authority overseeing the hiring for the new hospital. STAFFING: Regional officials
warn of workforce crisis The request for more information from provincial health officials was one of five demands the region’s economic development board made last month as it issued an unprecedented and urgent call for a territorial exemption from both the provincial and federal governments for changes to immigration policies to ensure against the loss of temporary foreign workers employed in the region. Sounding the warning of a pending workforce crisis, DEV officials were joined by a number of employers in the region last month to showcase just how dire the potential loss of foreign workers is being felt. The changes to the programs that affect foreign workers, including those who had been recruited to this region through the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ) that provided selected and qualified workers with a path to residency status, is real, and threatens the area’s economic growth, the business leaders said. The Vaudreuil-Soulanges area is in a unique position, Joanne Brunet, the director-general of DEV, said last month, as she pointed to the what was described as a perfect storm that is threatening businesses in the region. Brunet said the region’s proximity to Ontario, which is prepared to welcome temporary foreign workers currently employed in this region who now face an uncertain future as they grapple with the prospect of not being allowed to renew their work permits in this province; the approximately 1,000 job vacancies that currently exist here; and the hospital’s hiring needs is putting “significant pressure” on a labour market already struggling to keep up with demand. Last week, the CISSS Montérégie-Ouest released a video that featured an animated 3D simulation of what the main entrance of the hospital will look like. The online presentation included a link to the agency’s hiring portal. A request to the CISSS for comment from The 1019 Report has gone unanswered. Since construction of the hospital began in 2022, Quebec has twice pushed back the opening of the hospital. Originally planned to welcome its first patient in December 2026, health officials last January pushed back the opening of the facility to the summer of 2027. Then, last July, officials revised the date again, setting the opening now for spring 2028. The delays, in part, have been attributed to difficulties in filling the more than 3,500 new positions the new facility will require. Local Journalism Initiative