Resignation of three town councillors latest shock to small Quebec town
CTV
What began as a disagreement over an alcohol expense by a library volunteer in Ste-Pétronille, Que., has escalated into a political crisis that has upended the small village east of Quebec City and shaken its governing body.
What began as a disagreement over an alcohol expense by a library volunteer in Ste-Pétronille, Que., has escalated into a political crisis that has upended the small village east of Quebec City and shaken its governing body.
The resignation this week of three members of the Ste-Pétronille town council is the latest turn in the heated months-long conflict between residents and elected officials that has prompted an investigation by provincial authorities and led the municipality this winter to send threatening legal notices to one-tenth of its population.
Mayor Jean Côté didn't specify the reasons for the departures of councillors Claude Archambault, Alain Laroche and Lyne Gosselin when he announced their resignations at a town council meeting on Tuesday, but the news elicited cheers from members of the audience at Ste-Pétronille town hall.
"Odd," a visibly frustrated Côté said in response. "It's not easy to be a municipal elected official," he remarked in a short speech commending his former colleagues. "We can understand their decision."
The resignations leave just four remaining council members.
Côté opened the council meeting on Tuesday by outlining the series of events that have led tensions to boil in the usually sleepy town. It all started last summer, he said, when a library volunteer's request to be reimbursed for alcohol purchased at an after-work event was refused.
"The Ste-Pétronille town council has been suffering reprisals since August from the library's former volunteers, who never accepted the council's simple request not to incur expenses on behalf of the council without its authorization," he said.
