An Iles-de-la-Madeleine Song (French)

Group CTMA’s Pilot Project

Winter Ferry Service Between PEI and Islands

The Group CTMA has a pilot project to run the ferry service, Madeleine the entire year in 2009. The service will take place between Souris, Prince Edward Island and Grindstone Islands twice a week during the months of February and March.

Normally the islands are semi-isolated during those months. Yesterday, the federal government confirmed the acceptance of the project by way of communication.

The Magdalen Islands mayor, Joel Arseneau, had declared that he is largely satisfied with the announcement. He indicated that representatives from the Group CTMA have worked a dossier up that the federal government can recognize as a viable economic action for the Archipelago that will put in place two weekly ferry runs for the development of the islands.

The addition of the two weekly voyages will cost one and a half million dollars more for Transport Canada.

The mayor remind all Magdalen Islanders that it is up to the to use the service and prove the to the government the necessity of having the winter ferry service.

I wonder just how many people will use the service! I also wonder what the repercussions of having the ferry service will be for the lower income families, if the governments decide that the Islands are no longer isolated and therefore do not deserve the isolation allowance.

When the Voyager started to make it run once a week the government said that we were only half isolated and therefore cut our isolation in half. Does this new project cut the rest of the isolation credits from islanders? Will our imports cost more to make up the difference of 1.5 million dollars? Will the extra ferry service make the islands more tempting to tourists who would want to travel in February and March? After all, we do have the seal birthing during the early month of March.

There are a lot questions and a lot of responses both on the positive influence and on the negative influence of this project. I suppose only time will tell if islanders will want to get on the ferry, knowing that there is a possibility that the wind will turn and they will be stuck on the ferry for seven, twelve or even twenty-four hours until it is safe enough to dock into one of the harbours.

Nav Canada Has Got Woes...

And this holiday season, they are passing those woes on to their clients and more important..., to their employees. After making a couple really bad economical decisions this year, Nav Canada has decided to automate many of their resources, in airports such as the one on the Magdalen Islands. This being done, many of their employees will be transferred out or worse, they will lose their jobs and pay cheques. Some of their employees are already putting in request for transfer off islands.

Magdalen Islands mayor Joel Arseneau deplores that the consultations are coming about this holiday season. It is a strategy that, in his opinion, is aimed to reduce all opposition that is seen as rational. As well, there are the complaints to consider, of the employees to consider of the private enterprise which controls the air traffic circulation, when the flight information service at the House Harbour airport goes automated.

In a consultation document, Nav Canada highlighted that they register less than 5000 movements per year. This counters the objective of having 20000 movements per year which will justify an airport run manually.

The mayor feels justifiably upset with the status quo. He feels just in considering the security of Magdalen Islanders. Mayor Arseneau intends to mobilize the socio-economic representatives of the islands and question the two levels of government to prevent Nav Canada from automating their flight information services on the Islands. The mayor estimates more that 250,000 dollars is placed into the islands economy.

It was in the wind, a couple of weeks back, that there was a representative of Nav Canada going around to all the small airports to talk with the employees of the changes that were coming to private company. It made the employees nervous just expecting the meeting. The representative came and went quietly and now the mess blows up in the faces of the politicians..., Go Figure!

The Magdalen Islands isn't large enough to justify an air traffic controller, instead they use four or five flight service technicians, on rotation at the airport here on the islands.

Election Day Is Past...

Following a hot struggle, the liberal candidate for the islands, Germain Chevarie, stands victorious here in the Archipelago. The election took place on December 9th, 2008 and at the end of the evening, Mr. Chevarie took the election with 316 votes over his adversary, Jeannine Richard. When the totals were tallied up, Mr. Chevarie took 50% of the Magdalen Islands vote and the péquiste (common name for the Parti Quebecois) took 46% of the vote.

Mr. Chevarie's experience does not come from politics nor did he ever have any aspirations to following politics for a career. Three times he has been asked to run for the candidacy for the liberals and other Parties. Germain Chevarie is no stranger to Islanders though. He has 32 year in the field of Health and Social Services, spending many of those years as Chief Administrator of the CHA (Centre Hopital de l'Archipel or The Islands Hospital Center).

Germain Chevarie is said to have the honour of representing Islanders at the National Assembly. Ms Richard, though saddened, accepted her defeat and wished the liberal party under Chevarie be at the height of the dossiers which he must now attend to. She is said to believe the day had been difficult for her party.

The candidate for the Green Party, Nicolas Tremblay took two percent of the vote. Patrick Leblanc, for the Democratic Action Party of Quebec, who had five percent of the islander vote in 2007, lost support for his party by taking only 1.5% of the Islands vote. For his part, Jacques Bourbeau for the Quebec Solitaire Party took three percent.

Numerous electronic breakdowns of the vote were taken throughout the day of the election until the final vote was made. Three quarters of the voting Magdalen Islander population showed up to the polls to cast their vote.

You know, I can't remember the last time the Liberals took this election.... Perhaps it was some time during the 1980's. The Magdalen Islands has a strong Parti Québécois following and they have taken the provincial vote practically ever since the start of the Party, with René Levesque at the Party head. The Magdalen Islands remained faithful to the party when the Liberals or the Conservatives were certain to sit in power.

I think the Magdalen Islands is growing up. They finally realize that if they want action, they need to have a member of the same party in office in Quebec City. For years Maxime Arseneau took the vote and he, last going off quit probably because he was continuously fighting an uphill battle to get anything done by the government here on the islands. I would imagine the péquiste party is shaking their heads now..., licking their wounds and contemplating the next election, but I can't think of a better result fo the Magdalen Islands, then having the Liberals take the vote except having the Conservative Party take it. Too bad, we don't have the Conservative Party on the ballot here on the islands.

Merry Christmas!!!

The Islands Richelieu Club To Donate Christmas Food....

The Richelieu Club put the past weekend to good use by collecting the money to buy Christmas baskets of food. The amount of food they will buy surpassed all that was expected. Islanders generously contributed the equivalent of some hundred fish baskets full of food, explained the coordinator of the event, Jocelyn Thériault. This is 20% more that was donated last year.

Note: A fish basket is approximately thirty gallons, I would say..., maybe a little less.

The president of the Richelieu Club, Élie Chevrier, said that his part was the sale of tickets for a drawing, until the start of January, will allow for the addition of around ten baskets of a thousand dollars worth of perishable food baskets for Christmas. The distribution of the Christmas baskets, to the families with children in need, will commence around Saturday the 20th day of December.

I imagine that there are quite a few families that live under the poverty level, here on the Magdalen Islands. But not many, if any, go hungry or don't have at least the basic needs to survive well. Unlike on the mainland, if a recession or heaven forbid, a depression hit, the islands would suffer seriously, but food would still be plentiful because islanders have depended on the sea for their survival for centuries. The soil of the islands is rich and although not much of it is being used for farming, the potential for it's use is there.

Most people have regular jobs on the islands. Some full time, others work seasonally. There are a few who live on social assistance, drawn from the provincial government. Most of the seasonal workers do draw unemployment insurance from the Federal government, but many must repay the money when they start work in the spring. The islands economy has traditionally been based around fishing but for the past twenty years or so, the tourist industry has made leaps into a close second for the top spot for the economy. The salt mine probably runs third for employ ability. Then there are wide ranges of local business owners and their employees.

Magdalen Islands Election Poll Reveals...

An election poll held on the Magdalen Islands by the company Tenor Marketing from Sherbrooke has Magdalen Islanders supporting Liberal candidate, Germain Chevarie, by 48 percent. The survey was taken on December 2nd and 3rd, 2008 and was given to 300 people. A margin of six percent was accepted.

Jeannine Richard, Candidate for the Parti québécois for the county of the Magdalen Islands, had 45% of the people in the survey, who had the intention to vote. Patrick Leblanc, candidate for the L'adéquiste received three percent, Nicolas Trembley from the Green Party had two and a half percent and the candidate for Quebec Solidaire, Jacques Bourbeau had one percent.