GATINEAU : IL Y A LIEU D’ÊTRE INQUIET!

Alors que l’anglicisation progresse à Gatineau,

que les transferts linguistiques y avantagent toujours la langue anglaise,

que les taux d’assimilation dans certains secteurs de Gatineau se comparent à
ceux observés hors Québec,

que le principal employeur, le gouvernement du Canada, par sa fonction
publique fédérale, y crée les conditions nécessaires pour faire de l’anglais la
langue de travail avec tous ses effets défrancisants auprès de la population de
Gatineau et de l’Outaouais,

qu’il n’est plus rare de se faire accueillir et servir en anglais dans les
établissements commerciaux et professionnels de Gatineau,

que certains constructeurs et promoteurs immobiliers, appuyés par leurs
associations respectives, organisent des campagnes de séduction en anglais pour
attirer les Ontariens à venir vivre en anglais au Québec sans se soucier de la
fragile écologie culturelle et linguistique de Gatineau et de la région,

qu’il est de plus en plus fréquent de rencontrer des citoyens de Gatineau
qui, bien que résidant au Québec, choisissent de trafiquer leur identité pour se
déclarer Ontariens afin d’y payer leurs impôts (Il suffit d’observer le nombre
d’automobiles immatriculées en Ontario qui dorment tous les soirs dans les
entrées de cour de Gatineau pour constater l’ampleur de la fraude fiscale et de
ses effets sur l’appartenance québécoise de Gatineau),

le maire de Gatineau, M. Yves Ducharme, propose, pour régler le problème de
la défrancisation et de l’ontarionisation de Gatineau, l’adoption de nouvelles
mesures qui angliciseront davantage Gatineau. Il y a lieu d’être inquiet de
l’avenir que l’on réserve à Gatineau!

Ci-dessous, l »allocution en anglais du maire Ducharme prononcée devant
l’Association régionale des West Quebecers, organisme voué à l’anglicisation de
l’Outaouais.

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Ducharme understands needs
of English-speaking constituents

(Address by Mayor Yves Ducharme to the
Regional Association of West Quebecers, Sunday, September 18th, 2005)

Mr. President, (Shawn Peppy)
Members of the Board of Directors,
Mr. Gibb (Brian Gibb)
Director General (ou General Manager),

During the last election campaign in 2001, I
promised you I would give my very best to continue working to build a community
which we could all be proud of, and in which we could still feel the pulse, the
spirit and the soul of our former municipalities of Aylmer, Buckingham,
Gatineau, Masson and Hull.

I also promised you to exercise positive
leadership driven by action, l’écoute and teamwork.

Well, today, I am pleased to report that we met
the challenge…

  • We kept municipal tax increases under the
    inflation rate;
  • We invested over 320 million dollars in urban
    infrastructures;
  • We maintained open our local town hall
    facilities in each sector of the new city to better accommodate our fellow
    citizens and we have remained in touch with each sector to meet their specific
    needs;
  • We achieved several major accomplishments,
    not the least of which was to convince the Québec Government to adopt
    legislation banning smoking in public establishments;
  • and I am especially proud of my year’s tenure
    as president of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities during which time we
    succeeded in obtaining from the Federal Government an additional 54 million
    dollars which will go toward upgrading our city’s infrastructure and our
    public transit system.

I also take pride in another accomplishment –
that of keeping an ongoing dialogue with you all who form our English-speaking
community.

During the last election campaign, I promised «
to establish a policy of accessibility for our English-speaking citizens to all
municipal services in English everywhere in the City of Gatineau, but more
specifically in Aylmer, Gatineau and Buckingham, where the majority of our
English-language citizens are conc entrated, within, of course, the limitations
of the language legislation enacted by the Government of Québec. »

And I am happy to report that we accomplished
most of what we set out to do:

  • It may not still be a policy but it is a
    strong and common practise;
  • We maintained the public information policies
    in existence in our former cities;
  • Our website is accessible in English to our
    English-speaking citizens and others;
  • We maintained our publications and public
    notices in our local English-language newspapers;
  • And we implemented a new round-the-clock 311
    action line.

This unique service allows all our
English-speaking constituents to access our basic municipal information in their
own language by simply dialing this 3-digit number,. And for me, this is very
important.

I also understand that we need to do better.

My upcoming election campaign platform, soon to
be released, will carry a further personal commitment by myself on this matter
of vital importance to our English-speaking constituents.

What I can tell you tonight is that I fully
understand your need to obtain more information in your own language, and more
specifically our major bylaws governing such high impact areas as our Master
Development Plan and other planning legislation.

I believe that with the help of your association
during my next term in office, we can convince both the Québec Government and
the Federal Government to assist us financially to meet this requirement. In the
end, we will improve our services in English while complying with the Québec
language legislation.

I invite you to maintain an open dialogue, to
place your trust in me and to work with me for the good of our entire community
toward this common goal, TOGETHER, FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW.

In closing, Mr. President, I wish to thank you
for your kind invitation to address your distinguished membership.


Gerry Philippe, Mayor Yves Ducharme, RAWQ President Shaun
Peppy and RAWQ E.D. Brian Gibb Photo du tournoi de golf du 18 septembre 2005 des
West Quebecers extraite de

http://www.westquebecers.com/


Adresse utile :

Monsieur Yves Ducharme
Maire de Gatineau
maire@ville.gatineau.qc.ca

(Le 6 octobre 2005)

Nous avons besoin de vous

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