Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for the opportunity to address the committee on behalf of Quebec's municipalities.
To start, I'd like to point out that I had trouble getting connected for the meeting. In a pandemic, when everyone is in isolation, the importance of a strong Internet network in every region and municipality across the country becomes very apparent.
Senneterre is located in northeastern Quebec, in the Abitibi‑Témiscamingue region. With a population of 1,300, it spans a vast area of 16,512 km², making it one of Canada's biggest municipalities. Forestry is the main economic activity. As a central town, it's a major urban hub in rural Quebec. Offering government, business and industry-related services, the municipality serves a number of small surrounding communities, or buttress communities, as we call them.
The town is also located in a major indigenous region, where 8% of the population is indigenous. The region is home to three indigenous communities: Cree, Atikamekw and Algonquin. With the current crisis, everyone seems to have forgotten the crisis we were dealing with in January and February, the rail crisis stemming from unresolved indigenous issues. We must not close our minds to that reality.
The Abitibi‑Témiscamingue region depends on mining, forestry, agriculture and tourism. As you can imagine, these four economic drivers have been hit hard by the current situation. The crisis's impact on Quebec's municipal community and on small communities has been severe, especially for remote rural communities, which very often revolve around a single industry. In our municipality, it's forestry, so we feel it's important that any economic recovery plans include opening the border to support forestry. Our plants are still operating today because we need chips, but tomorrow, we'll need to ship lumber to various markets, especially the U.S., which buys the bulk of what we produce. The border must be opened without restriction to the lumber trade.
Senneterre is home to 21 outfitters, most of which serve European and American customers. I can tell you that we don't expect any Americans to come up for bear hunting or fishing this year. Outfitters will probably have a tougher time. Clearly, we need to support our tourism industry with significant and targeted assistance, especially for outfitters.
As far as the role of municipalities is concerned, thus far, their primary focus has been emergency management and they've taken steps to provide some relief for property tax payments. When it comes to supporting individuals and businesses, municipalities will be there to help them get back on their feet. Nevertheless, much is expected of the higher levels of government, namely, provincial and federal authorities. That means there are certain expectations as regards support for individuals and businesses, expectations that the programs put in place have in part satisfied.
The Union des municipalités du Québec is currently working on a municipal economic recovery plan, which it will submit to the provincial government. Some of the measures will also be submitted to the federal government, including the municipal water infrastructure fund, or FIMEAU in French for short. Roughly 50 of the projects that the provincial government has approved are being looked at by federal public servants. In many cases, it's just a matter of rubber-stamping the proposals. It's important that these projects get under way quickly or at least that they be ready to go for the recovery phase.
The gas tax fund is another priority for the Union des municipalités du Québec. Not only does the fund need to be enhanced, but it also needs to be adjusted for broader use. It should allow for community-level projects, not just major infrastructure projects such as water and sewer work. It's also necessary to repair municipal garages and fire stations. The fund needs to be adjusted and enhanced.
Furthermore, we need to put our young people to work. In April, it's no longer realistic to stick to the work placement and summer job programs put forth in January. We need to allow for a broader use of youth summer job funding. In Quebec City, a major shift towards a decentralized public service is happening, something the federal government should seriously consider.
Small is beautiful.
The government should consider delivering local and economic development services in Quebec's regions. Doing that would put more people to work in offices and require more employment services in Quebec's regions. The government needs to explore ways to decentralize the public service to bring it closer to the people it serves.
I had a few other points to make, but I'll probably get a chance to come back to them during the question and answer period. I think my five minutes are already up.