Landline issues on Allumettes: Bell technician interrupts live interview

Landline issues on Allumettes: Bell technician interrupts live interview

After being cut off from all means of communication during the intense cold in early February, residents of Isle-aux-Allumettes are still experiencing problems with the communications infrastructure. Between Monday and Wednesday (February 20 to 22) the landline for the Raymond Line sector was down. During a French-language live interview with the local farmer David Gillespie, a Bell technician interrupted the interview. Below is a translated transcript of the conversation:

David Gillespie: The absurdity of fixing things temporarily.

François Carrier: Yes, it should be people from Montreal, we know that Montreal is the city of orange cones.

David Gillespie: [Laughing] I hope that, first we could soon have the… that we could soon have the… Hello?

François Carrier: Yes, I am here.

David Gillespie: Ah, okay. I see a Bell truck on the way, maybe that’s why we have a problem…

Bell employee: Yes, hello?

David Gillespie and François Carrier: Yes, hello?

Bell employee: Yes, excuse me, are you on 308?

David Gillespie: Yes, at the moment I am in contact with the media. Could you let me finish with the interview please?

François Carrier: Yes, we’re done in 10 seconds, we’re on-air. Listen, we’re going to keep this, it’s beautiful. So, we have just been interrupted [laughing] by Bell Canada live on the radio. Beautiful! David Gillespie, I have nothing more to say. Listen, it’s all there.

Recall that residents of the Raymond Line sector have long complained about the interruptions to their landline service, which has occurred in the spring for the past few years.

David Gillespie: Yes, what is very interesting is that they asked me to call them back.

François Carrier: They asked you: call us back on the phone, we can read it like that. I don’t think they understood.

David Gillespie: But, my elected officials, the elected politicians including André Fortin, Ms. Chatel and the President of Bell Canada, [I’m telling them] that this was a serious problem, that myself and my neighbors, that we had no communications. So, that said, our MNA André Fortin, answered me very quickly and, half an hour later, the President of Bell himself answered me.

The full (French-language) interview with Gillespie is available here.