Clarence-Rockland mayor wants ambulance in Bourget

Unfairness seems to be the new word of the day at the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR).

The UCPR held a public meeting on Thursday, April 28 to discuss making changes to its weighted voting bylaw, in an effort to give the City of Clarence-Rockland the extra vote it has been seeking for the past four years. (See related story.)

The City of Clarence-Rockland has stated that it feels it is not getting its "fair share" of counties resources and, as a result, is hoping to hold a referendum as part of the upcoming municipal election.

The referendum question will ask residents whether or not they would support the city separating from the UCPR.

In an effort to demonstrate the unfairness the city is suffering at the hands of the counties, Mayor Richard Lalonde pointed out that his council is angry that the counties did not support its request to have an ambulance stationed in Bourget.

"Clarence-Rockland was next in line to have an ambulance put in Bourget," Lalonde stated. "It was part of the counties' five-year plan. Lo and behold, this year's budget comes and goes and we still don't have our ambulance."

Lalonde said instead of giving Bourget the ambulance, counties councillors voted in favour of adding about $1.1 million in road projects for Russell Township.

"Those projects were not included as part of the budget," Lalonde commented. "But Mayor [Ken] Hill asked to have them added back into the budget and no one had a problem with that. Meanwhile, 2010 was supposed to be our time to get that ambulance. Our taxpayers are very frustrated with this."

Ward 1 Councillor Michel Thivierge wanted to know why Clarence-Rockland only had one ambulance when it is the largest municipality in the UCPR.

"The one ambulance we have is usually stationed in Cumberland because it is on standby for the City of Ottawa," he said. "This isn't right. If we were on our own, we would have the ambulances we need to serve our residents."

East Hawkesbury Mayor Robert Kirby said Clarence-Rockland should be happy it has an ambulance, since his municipality doesn't have one.

"You're very lucky to have an ambulance," he commented. "My municipality doesn't and there are numerous people in my municipality who live more than 20 kilometres from a hospital."

The Nation Mayor Denis Pommainville disagreed with Thivierge and said even if Clarence-Rockland managed to separate from the counties tomorrow, it wouldn't have any greater control over its ambulance service than the counties do now.

"Your ambulances would still spend a lot of time in Ottawa, even if we were on your own and had your own service," Pommainville noted. "We are in the same situation right now. Our ambulances spend quite a bit of time in Ottawa responding to calls and there is very little we can do about it. It's the law. We have eight ambulances in Prescott-Russell and there are times when all of them are out of the counties. You won't have any more control over your ambulances than we do now."

Thivierge told the eight mayors to get their heads "out of the sand" and said Clarence-Rockland isn't "playing games.

"We and our taxpayers are not willing to put up with this unfairness any more," he stated. "Enough is enough."