Anticosti : “There now, it is dying “

Claude Robillard

Étienne Paré

Monday, 31 July, 2017 17:04

UPDATE
Monday, 31 July, 2017 17:21

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The decision of the government Couillard to put an end to drilling for oil on Anticosti island is far from making the unanimity among the islanders.

Lina was nearly we hang up on the nose when we phoned on Monday. “The journalists who came on the island have always distorted our words. It is not true that we were all fighting the oil,” says the one who lives in the island with 200 000 deer since 1998.

Finally, the hairdresser of the village trusted. With conviction, she does not hide her hopes are broken by the decision of Quebec. “Since that Petrolia was here, we could already see a difference,” she notes.

In renting its premises during the winter, the oil company of Quebec had, for example, enabled the craft store to stay open during the tourist season. The revenue of the grocery and the hardware have also increased since the beginning of drilling.

The company has also tried to invest in the infrastructure of the village, which has always refused the new city council, which is hostile to them.

“What shocks me, is that it is divided between the rest of us. At least with the exploration, we would have had the time just about the oil. If it had been worth it, one would have to have a real debate”, laments Line, which claims to be looked at through among the community for his stance.

In the case of exploration, of Pétrolia is committed to provide more flights to support the flood of workers from the outside. The aircraft is the only means of transport that connects the island to the mainland when the waters of the estuary of the St. Lawrence freeze.

Stéfane Tremblay is not, however, of illusion. “We would probably never come to the operation because it would have ended up costing too much. But if we had stayed until the end of the exploration phase, we could finally move on to something else”, laments the former mayor.

As have his two predecessors, he considered today to leave the village, which, however, has seen them grow: “at least with mining, there was a bit of economic activity. There now, we’re dying!”

He would leave behind him an aging community, passed under the bar of 200 souls, downtrodden by an unemployment rate that exceeds 60% in the winter, abandoned by all its young people, who were surely not want to raise a family in a village where the primary school and secondary school will have four students next year.

“When I hear the people of the city say that Anticosti island is a gem and that it should be protected, I ask them if they would come to live here themselves. Often, they never came. They mingle with so their business!”, concludes Lina, on the stroke of emotion.