{"id":5882,"date":"2015-06-03T18:54:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T18:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/?p=5882"},"modified":"2015-06-04T21:27:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T21:27:53","slug":"controversy-continues-to-swirl-in-beaconsfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2015\/06\/03\/controversy-continues-to-swirl-in-beaconsfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents angry at Bourelle comments; questions arise on Cogeco withdrawal<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n

By Kevin Woodhouse<\/b>
\nWith files from Beryl Wajsman, Editor<\/b>
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Did<\/a>

Did Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle mislead citizens about the decision to pull plug on big billboard?<\/p><\/div>\n

Controversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield even after the announcement that Cogeco Metromedia\u2019s planned electronic billboard (EBB)\u00a0will not go ahead. Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle sparked anger in the days following a public consultation meeting held May 25. That anger continues unabated.<\/p>\n

Apart from the passionate opposition of some 140 plus residents who attended the consultation on the 25th, matters were made worse that night when Bourelle\u2019s administration issued a press release about the results of the consultation while it was ongoing.<\/p>\n

The meeting lasted until 9:15 p.m., but at about 8 p.m. members of the media received the release that indicated a calm exchange of ideas had occurred. The reality was far different.<\/p>\n

Not one of the residents attending supported the billboard plan. They voiced their opposition as to policy and process particularly in what struck many as a lack of transparency and a fait accompli being presented.<\/p>\n

After Daniel Mongeau held up an iPhone on which the premature release was visible and questioned the goodwill of the proceedings, longtime resident and sound wall activist Derrick Pounds said to the mayor, \u201cYou should be ashamed of yourself, sending out a release prior to the end of the meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that point Mayor Bourelle exclaimed, \u201cDerrick do you want to be removed?\u201d to which Pounds responded, \u201cGo ahead,\u201d and another resident said, \u201cI guess we should all be kicked out,\u201d at which point all attendees but six left the chamber.<\/p>\n

Bourelle compounded the anger and controversy in the following days when he denigrated the 140 plus attendees as not being a \u201ctrue representation of residents,\u201d who in his mind were the \u201csilent majority who had politely called and e-mailed\u201d rather than coming to the consultation, as he told local media.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this mean that hostile to the council residents are not real concerned citizens? What\u2019s the message being sent here?\u201d wondered resident and public consultation attendee Dennis Partington.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one of the residents who attended the public consultation Monday night, I am appalled and offended by Mayor Bourelle\u2019s denigrating comment about those 140 committed residents who took the time to attend the public consultation to voice their concerns,\u201d explained resident and lawyer Brigitte Garceau.<\/p>\n

Adding to this already volatile mix, Bourelle then called an emergency council caucus meeting for Wednesday morning. The press release from that meeting caused even more public confusion and questions.<\/p>\n

The release stated that Cogeco and the city had reached a \u201cmutual agreement\u201d to withdraw the billboard proposal. Bourelle later said that Beaconsfield and Cogeco had come to this decision in the face of \u201cthe overwhelming number of e-mails and phone messages received after the presentation Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

No sooner had that release and statement been issued than Beaconsfield Councillor Pierre Demers gave quite another version of the emergency meeting stating that for the \u201csake of transparency, it should be noted that the decision by Beaconsfield Council to withdraw the EBB proposition had much more to do with Cogeco\u2019s decision to withdraw its offer to the city than \u2018the overwhelming number of e-mails and phone messages received after the presentation Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michel Guay, who was also at the May 25 EBB consultation, believes that Bourelle was less than forthright by stating the city and Cogeco had come to a mutual agreement to withdraw the EBB proposal and \u201cpretending that it was the residents who aided in the final decision when it was Cogeco that pulled out first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor is misleading the people,\u201d Guay told The Suburban.<\/i> \u201cWhere is the transparency in that?\u201d Guay believes the press release suggesting that the city and Cogeco agreed on matters of \u201csocial acceptability\u201d was simply Mayor Bourelle \u201ctrying to save face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the statements made by Councillor Demers are accurate, then the mayor has misled the public and lost credibility,\u201d Brigitte Garceau added.<\/p>\n

Because of the mayor\u2019s lack of clarity and transparency on the issue of Cogeco and the billboard contract, resident Karoline Laforest made a reference on Facebook likening Bourelle\u2019s conduct in the affair to the fable of the \u201cEmperor\u2019s new clothes\u201d, to which the mayor of Beaconsfield astonishingly responded \u201cLong live the Emperor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents angry at Bourelle comments; questions arise on Cogeco withdrawal By Kevin Woodhouse With files from Beryl Wajsman, Editor www.thesuburban.com Controversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield even after the announcement that Cogeco Metromedia\u2019s planned electronic billboard (EBB)\u00a0will not go ahead. Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle sparked anger in the days following a public consultation meeting held<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nControversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2015\/06\/03\/controversy-continues-to-swirl-in-beaconsfield\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Residents angry at Bourelle comments; questions arise on Cogeco withdrawal By Kevin Woodhouse With files from Beryl Wajsman, Editor www.thesuburban.com Controversy continues to swirl in Beaconsfield even after the announcement that Cogeco Metromedia\u2019s planned electronic billboard (EBB)\u00a0will not go ahead. 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