While he had scheduled a series of dinner shows in his vineyard, like last year, Mario Pelchat had to cancel everything due to a refusal of authorization from the CPTAQ. After the shock of the announcement, he decided to mobilize his energies to try to change the course of things.
Photo : Eric_Carriere / TVA Pub
“It hurts me because it’s a project that’s close to my heart, that kept the economy going. But the biggest pain I feel is seeing that my musicians no longer have anything on their agenda for the summer.”
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The axe fell at the end of May, when the Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land in Quebec (CPTAQ) refused to give authorization to Mario Pelchat to perform at his vineyard during the summer. The singer and producer had no choice but to cancel the 45 performances on his schedule and to plan to refund the 9,000 tickets already sold.
The weeks following this announcement have been very complicated for Mario Pelchat. “Apart from the fact that I have very strong anxiety and that I have difficulty speaking because I hyperventilate so much, it is an extremely stressful situation. But I cannot help but appreciate the support of the public and the media in this matter. Everyone finds this decision absurd, most do not understand the reason for this decision. But we will get through this.”
Towards regularization
Despite the complexity of the case and the unfairness of the decision, Mario Pelchat and his wife, Claire Lemaître-Augerare nevertheless trying to see the positive side of the situation. Some things are moving forward in the case. “The decision is being reversed. The municipality decided to change the development plan, the resolution came out on June 4, in order to allow farmers to have reception halls and to allow shows in agricultural areas. It already existed, but it needed an official document. It’s a shame, because we are the ones who are suffering from the situation, even if there are shows happening around us, in other places. But it happened to us.”
The most discouraging thing about this affair is that Mario Pelchat puts his heart into his projects and that he is slowed down in his momentum for purely administrative reasons. “It hurts me because it is a project that is close to my heart, that was driving the economy. But the biggest pain I feel is seeing that my musicians no longer have anything on their agenda for the summer. We know that shows are booked well in advance. Most of them therefore find themselves with nothing, and therefore without income. It affects me enormously. We are all in the same boat. I too am losing a huge amount of income.”
Go forward
The couple who own Domaine Pelchat-Lemaître-Auger are trying as best they can to continue their work. “Claire and I try to focus on the positive. We encourage each other. Sometimes, I reassure her, and other times, she does it for me.” They have also set up another activity to compensate for the cancellation of the shows. “We are going to do guided tastings. We explain to the public where the project comes from, and Claire and I are the ones who provide the commentary. At the same time, we have people taste the wines, and it is accompanied by a gourmet plate with local products. I think we are going to have a great time.”
Mario Pelchat will also take advantage of the coming weeks to advance his album of duets, which should be released this fall. “It’s going to be extraordinary, I’m crazy about the duets I’m going to do! We’re going to have in particular Graceful, Bruno Pelletier, Ginette Renoas well as some nice surprises. I think it’s going to be a very nice record. And I also have a new production project, which I’ll talk about later.”
All the dates of the tastings commented by Claire and Mario are available on domainepla.com
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