A fourth elected official resigns in Sainte-Pétronille

A fourth elected official resigns in Sainte-Pétronille
A fourth elected official resigns in Sainte-Pétronille

A fourth councilor resigned from her position in less than a year due to the difficult situation in Sainte-Pétronille, on Île d’Orléans.

The citizens present learned of the departure of Line Bisson during the ordinary meeting on Monday evening. Exasperated, the advisor decided to throw in the towel too.

Ms. Bisson asked to read her resignation letter publicly.

“I am leaving because I no longer want to work in a climate of negative energy, closed-mindedness and denial of reality,” she wrote and declared.

The advisor says she is incapable of brushing aside the past.

Photo Jean-François Racine / Le Journal de Québec

Long list

On April 2, 2024, three elected officials also resigned from their position. The municipal council of Sainte-Pétronille then found itself without half of its councilors. A by-election was necessary to fill the vacant seats.

To this long list, we must add the sick leave of another elected official and the work stoppage of two municipal employees, namely the general director Nathalie Paquet and the assistant director.

Welcoming the report from the advisor to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Ms. Bisson is however not convinced that there will be changes.

“…there may be no excuses or sanctions for irregularities, lack of integrity, withholding and non-sharing of information, widespread indifference to the legitimate requests and concerns of new elected officials, threats of prosecution, false bans, hostile remarks towards me and towards citizens,” added the resigned councilor.

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Mayor Jean Côté did not want to comment on the councilor’s departure, nor did he want to say whether he will be a candidate in 2025.

Ms. Bisson wishes to continue differently, in her own way. “I never imagined how difficult it would be for a municipal elected official to tell the real things to citizens,” she said before receiving, at the very end, loud applause from citizens.

During question period, she left her seat to take her place in the room.

Acting

The arrival of a new general director and a conflict with library volunteers ignited the situation about a year ago.

Faced with the impossibility of managing current affairs, the municipal council appointed Myrabelle Chicoine as interim general director and clerk-treasurer.

Nathalie Paquet left her position for the first time on July 18. Back in October, she has been absent again since November 26.

The family of a citizen of Val-des-Lacs, who died of cardiorespiratory arrest, is demanding $260,000 from the municipality and its former general director, Nathalie Paquet for not having come to his aid.

The ministry advisor noted in his recent report that the situation remains “difficult” in Sainte-Pétronille.

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