However, the latter is slow to take shape for a very simple reason: no group of citizens, elected officials or candidates publicly defends the project. The opponents have before them elected officials who, until further notice, play the card of neutrality. If we can criticize some of the methods of some of the opponents, and even sometimes qualify them as a heaps of Querunts, the latter have the merit of defending a clear position with specific arguments: the nuisances go beyond potential profits, this project will attract any new resident and risks on the contrary to make it flee, this project opens the door to the privatization of energy production in Quebec and collective, among others.
Now that your Canada has published a complete preliminary version of the project, all the people who will be candidates for the next municipal elections must decide. The arguments that justified neutrality are no longer worth and it is important that the next electoral campaign is used to serve, that is to say the public debate on local issues.
A sign that the population is ready to decide, the MRC Mékinac intends to carry out a survey on the issue in the coming months. But a survey cannot replace the democratic exercise par excellence, the election. It is important that citizens know the positions of the people for whom they and they vote, which means that people who will be candidates must decide on the structuring issues, as is the project of your Canada.
The role of elected officials is complex. The latter must both listen to the population, act as opinion leaders and defend clear positions in public space. They cannot show dogmatism or act in a simple transmission belt; They must be open and carry values and projects.
-Unfortunately, they suffer a lot of pressure and are too often victims of intimidation. Several recently launched the towel everywhere in Quebec. Those who decide to present themselves in the elections in six months deserve our respect. All the more those who will present themselves in municipalities affected by the project of your Canada. Because this project arouses strong criticism and ignites passions and, if these people take the work of elected officials seriously, they will have no choice but to take part in the debate and to clearly assert their position before the elections.
Hopefully, for the good of local democracy, that they will do so and, in return, that opponents will remain respectful. The debate must relate to the project and not to the people who defend it. But it must take place. And the electoral campaign is the best place to do so.
Frédéric Mercure Jolette
Tutor
