Mayor Newberry asked for support to create public access on March 13th, 2019
Mayor Newberry asked for support to create public access on March 13th, 2019
According to the information gathered by the CHIP 101.9 newsroom, the Mayor of the municipality of l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Serge Newberry, intervened a few times during certain committees, which he sat on, in order to promote the idea of a national park in the Iles Lafontaine.
Last March 13th, according to the minutes of the multi-resource advisory committee, Serge Newberry requested support from the committee, in order to advance two projects: the national park and a public access road. Financing had also been mentioned to make this public access a reality. At the time, the multi-resource committee had shown interest in the idea, as proposed by mayor Newberry, but said they wanted to see a detailed action plan before deciding on funding.
MULTI-RESOURCES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting, March 13th, 2019 – extract
12. Varia
Mr. Newberry presents points concerning the Iles Lafontaine.
• The Iles Lafontaine are under the MRC ‘s management;
• There is a committee for the creation of a National Park;
• The PAIR mentions the enhancement of the site;
• Recreational touristic site;
• In 2015, there was a request for a local development project;
• There is a public access problem on the Îles Lafontaine;
• PATP islands are in a Wildlife Habitat Area of the Ottawa River Area;
• The Municipality of Île-du-Grand-Calumet are going through the process for a public road;
• The Municipality wishes to move forward with the two (2) procedures (National Park and public road);
• The Municipality will apply for TPI funding to the committee for recommendations; The committee is interested in the proposal to develop a public road by the Municipality. However, wishes to see a detailed action plan before moving forward with financial recommendations.
The CHIP 101.9 newsroom revealed on September 24th that Serge Newberry owned two islands located on the edge of the territory outlined for the establishment of a national park, assets that were not declared to the council of mayors of the MRC Pontiac. Mayor Newberry had told CHIP 101.9 on September 23rd that “everyone knew it”.
On October 2nd, Newberry stated that it was not an obligation to do so at the MRC Pontiac, referring to a declaration of conflict of interest, but that he did so in his pecuniary declaration which was filed at the municipality of l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet.
Last week, Newberry said a few times that, in his opinion, there is no ”perceived conflict of interest”, as described by the Council of mayors of the MRC on October 2nd.
