Faced with the frustration of Abitibi-Témiscamingue’s elected officials at the lack of a local representative on the Council of Ministers, François Legault handed responsibility for the region back to former Minister Pierre Dufour.
• Also read: Pay attention to the regions!
During the last term in office, Pierre Dufour was the Minister responsible for Abitibi-Témiscamingue. He will continue to manage the region’s files, but as a parliamentary assistant.
The member for Abitibi-Est will report to two departments. For regional matters, he will report to Minister responsible for the region, Mathieu Lacombe. He will also report to Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon on regional economic development issues.
The absence of a minister from the region was also denounced by elected officials from Abitibi-Témiscamingue on Wednesday morning.
“The population had a regional minister for several years and for us it’s a loss, it’s a migration to the Outaouais and we don’t tolerate that,” said the mayor of Amos, Sebastien d’Astous.
However, after their meeting with the Prime Minister, the region’s prefects said they were “relatively satisfied” with the solution proposed to them.
“We wanted an entry to help us understand how easy and facilitating communication can be. We think what is currently being proposed will fill a gap,” said Mr d’Astous.
- Listen to the interview with Sébastien D’Astous, Mayor of Amos and President of the Conference of Prefects of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, on Radio QUB:
More details to come…