Affected by a rejected complaint | Minister Charette denounces a “political maneuver”

The heated debate on the new flood zone maps is poisoning relations between elected officials in the northern suburbs of Montreal. Targeted by a police complaint made by a mayor, but ultimately rejected, the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, denounces a “political maneuver […] completely unacceptable.”

His exit follows the filing of a police complaint at the beginning of November by Sonia Fontaine, mayor of Pointe-Calumet, in connection with comments made by the minister that she considered threatening.

It is “unworthy of the role of an elected official,” replies Mr. Charette by email.

“We are looking at the means that can be taken in this matter. This kind of defamation must stop,” adds the minister.

The municipal elected official’s denunciation of the minister reveals the deleterious climate that reigns in this region where Quebec’s new regulations would affect a large number of properties.

With several of her advisors, Sonia Fontaine set out this fall to collect signatures from her citizens, a majority of whom would be affected by the modification of flood zones. In particular, she wanted Quebec to take into account that the municipality it represents is protected by a dike, which is not considered, according to her.

The gesture would have displeased Minister Benoit Charette, who is leading the file while representing the riding of Deux-Montagnes, neighboring that of Mirabel, where Pointe-Calumet is located.

During a meeting in September with several local elected officials, but where Sonia Fontaine was not present, he would have mentioned that she had to stop her approach under penalty of “paying dearly”. At least that’s what Sonia Fontaine’s complaint says, to whom the comments were reported, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Made aware of the minister’s comments, the mayor did nothing and filed a complaint with the Lac des Deux-Montagnes police department at the beginning of November.

File closed

Through his office, Benoit Charette “refutes” having made these remarks and affirms that, according to him, the complaint was deemed “inadmissible” by the police. “The people present at this meeting will be able to confirm that Minister Charette did not make any threats or intimidation towards anyone,” we add.

In fact, the police force did not see fit to pursue the matter further, with the mayor herself mentioning in her complaint that she does not want an investigation to be carried out on the minister, according to another source who is aware of the content of the complaint.

“There are events that have been reported to the Deux-Montagnes police. At the wishes of the complainant and following the analysis of the facts, the file was closed without further action,” confirmed the inspector and spokesperson for the Régie, Jean-Philippe Labbé.

Joined by The PressSonia Fontaine did not wish to comment on the filing of her complaint.

The “duty of elected officials”

In addition to Benoit Charette, the meeting during which the contentious remarks were allegedly made also brought together the mayor of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, François Robillard, and the member of Parliament for the Mirabel constituency, Sylvie D’Amours.

Promoted to vice-president of the National Assembly since then, M^me D’Amours had to close his constituency office at the end of October for an indefinite period. The building had been targeted by air rifle fire.

She then cited “security issues”, linked in particular to the debate surrounding the new flood zone maps proposed by her government. “For several weeks, misleading information has been circulating, causing panic among residents of the Lower Laurentians and throughout Quebec,” she said at the time.

Already, in mid-September, tensions surrounding the issue were high, according to Minister Benoit Charette. The “duty of elected officials to provide fair information to the population based on facts” was notably mentioned during the meeting with the mayor of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, he indicates.

At that time, he and MP Sylvie d’Amours were going to publish an open letter in a local media to respond to “citizens’ concerns” related to this reform.

“Install fear”

The text was also intended to respond to another letter published a few months earlier in the same media, this one by Mayor Sonia Fontaine and her team of municipal councilors. Quebec was accused of “establishing fear and financial worry” with its reform.

Under this new regulation, made necessary by the major floods of 2017 and 2019, some 15,500 buildings are now found in at-risk sectors in the greater Montreal region, twice as many as before.

In total, 77,000 housing units could be affected by the new regulations, three times more than currently, Quebec announced in June. The houses of certain owners will no longer be worth anything, municipal elected officials were recently worried¹.

The situation particularly affects municipalities in the northern suburbs of Montreal, such as Pointe-Calumet, where 97% of the territory is identified as a flood zone.

“There are going to be terrible financial tragedies. The government will have to justify its decisions, even though it is supposed to be a responsible government,” declared Sonia Fontaine last October.

With Daniel Renaud, The Press

1. Read the file “New flood zones: “their houses will no longer be worth anything””