“We believe that there are things that need to be improved and we don’t feel listened to by elected officials,” says Simon Duchesneau, spokesperson for the Vivre ensemble Bedford committee, which brings together around ten people who usually attend municipal council meetings.
“We want to bring people together and create a political counterweight. We find that there are not enough actions taken for the environment in Bedford,” says the 44-year-old operator.
He gives as an example the few green spaces that remain in the municipality of some 2,680 inhabitants.
“We ask what the plan is to protect them and we have no answer. We feel that there is no interest in that.”
One of the last green spaces in Bedford, in Estrie. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
The committee is also questioning the supply of drinking water in this increasingly expanding city.
“Is our network capable of absorbing so many new residents?” asks Mr. Duchesneau.
Living Together Bedford would also like to see the now-unused railway line that runs through the town transformed into a cycle path. The committee also feels that information is having difficulty reaching new residents.
“We are not looking for confrontation. What we want is to improve the city. I have always lived here and I would like to stay here all my life.”
“We are listening”
The mayor of Bedford, Claude Dubois, brushes aside these criticisms.
“We are listening to citizens,” he insists. If anyone has a question, we answer it. But maybe we don’t respond the way he would like.”
He adds that the City “has taken many actions for the environment,” citing the greening of Massicotte Street, obtaining an “excellent” certification from Fleurons du Québec and the imminent formation of a green committee in the City.
“We’re building it up slowly, but it’s difficult to have everyone in the summer,” Mr. Dubois emphasizes.
The mayor of Bedford, Claude Dubois. (ARCHIVES LA VOIX DE L’EST, STÉPHANE CHAMPAGNE/ARCHIVES LA VOIX DE L’EST, STÉPHANE CHAMPAGNE)
“We invest a lot of money in the environment, but we do what we can with the money we have. And municipal things are not done by shouting rabbit. It’s very long.”
The development of the railway into a cycle path is, for example, a project that he is considering and which has been discussed for several years at the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi “but there are towns that are not in favour of it.”
“You have to start by convincing people; everyone has to agree, said the mayor. For our part, we adopted a resolution so that the train would not return to Bedford.”
An information kit for new arrivals, an idea that has also been in the air for several years, will be launched in August, adds Claude Dubois.
And as for drinking water, the mayor is also reassuring.
“It’s the first thing I checked when I became mayor again [NB: en 2021]. I didn’t want to have problems like other cities have had. We had studies done and we keep the accounts religiously. Our factory [NB: de traitement des eaux] is sufficient and will even be improved soon.”
Mr. Dubois says he does not understand the grievances of Vivre ensemble Bedford since “I have already explained all that to them”.
Elected officials are also free to attend meetings of this committee, but he cannot force them, he said.
“And I already go to quite a few committees.”
