Fleurimont Library: Sherbrooke will not apply for a grant

The Sherbrooke municipal council finally made a decision. He will not apply for a grant from the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program to convert the Sainte-Famille Church in Fleurimont into a library.

Seven elected officials were in favor of submitting a grant application, while eight of them voted against the project estimated at $40 million.

Remember that two options were presented to municipal officials, one at $35 million where the Sainte-Famille Church was demolished. A new building would have been rebuilt on the land on Papineau Street. The other option amounted to $40 million. The old place of worship would have been renovated rather than demolished.

Before voting on this issue which has sparked reactions in recent weeks, several elected officials made their comments, starting with the Brompton–Rock Forest–Saint-Élie–Deauville district councilor, Christelle Lefèvre, who indicated that the municipal council had missed the boat in this matter.

According to her, the municipal council should have seized the opportunity to come together, rather than dividing around an issue of such scale.

Ms. Lefèvre also maintains that the way in which the project was carried out did not serve than to polarize the municipal council and the entire population.

She adds that elected officials did not ask themselves the right questions, while everyone was in favor of a library in the East, but not necessarily at this cost.

The real questions should have been ”where would be the best place for the Fleurimont library? and ”what type of library do we want to have?”.

Other elected officials agreed with Ms. Lefèvre. This is the case of the University district advisor, Paul Gingues, who did not did not appreciate the pressure exerted on elected officials who were not in favor of this version of the project. As for the advisor in Desranleau, Danielle Berthold, she believes that the time is not right regarding the filewhile a federal election is in the air.

Lots of emotions

Moved, the Ascot district councilor, Geneviève La Roche, indicated that the commitment of the municipal council would have opened the door to allow us to dream, because the library in Fleurimont is a need.

Ms. La Roche would have liked her colleagues and her to give themselves the chance to move forward with this project by applying for a federal grant.

I am aware that some colleagues had fears. I understand that we all have budgetary concerns. Everything may not have been done in the right order, in every aspect, but the finality for me is extremely important. It is our role to ensure a purpose for the collective goodshe said.

For her part, her colleague Laure Letarte-Lavoie delivered a new plea in favor of the project during the public plenary committee on Tuesday afternoon. She was one of the only ones to do so, while the other elected officials preferred to reserve their opinions on the subject during the municipal council meeting.

Faced with the rejection of Sherbrooke’s elected officials regarding the project, Ms. Letarte-Lavoie reiterated that the proposed library would have had nothing to do with the current libraries within the City. We were talking about a “third place” library which would have made it possible to exchange, socialize, introduce young and old to reading, promote academic success and more.she expressed.

At the end of the session, the advisor indicated that the Fleurimont library file was not dead and that that of the Holy Family Church was worrying.