Community leaders meet May 6 to write final plan

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By Yvon Gauvin
Times & Transcript staff

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DALHOUSIE - Community leaders throughout East Restigouche will be busy over the next two weeks canvassing their communities for input on an 11-page Community Action Plan released last week as a framework for regional development and improved economy.

The draft provides strategies to help create projects and develop infrastructure in the hard-pressed region.

The community leaders, members of the East Restigouche Diversification Committee, will gather May 6 to present their findings and see the draft plan finalized.

The report was commissioned in January by the committee.

The largest employer in Dalhousie today is its senior citizens home, which employs 115 people, Dalhousie Mayor Clem Tremblay said.

Dalhousie was particularly hard hit over the past two years with the closure of the Abitibi-Bowater paper mill and Olin Corp. chemical plant, its largest employers, resulting in a loss of about 500 jobs.

The provincial government offered the region $12 million in rehabilitation funds. The next step, said Tremblay, is to identify the potential developments for each community. Copies of the draft report are available at municipal offices.

Some projects like the Dalhousie waterfront development have already begun and there is some money already promised for small manufacturing businesses in the region to expand, he said.

Different ideas being explored include turning the area into a transportation and distribution centre for northern New Brunswick using the port, railway and road systems and nearby airport.

It all depends on how hard the committee wants to work and how far it wants to go on the projects, said Tremblay who is looking for the projects to be completed in two years or less.

The municipalities included in the plan are Dalhousie, Charlo, Balmoral, Eel River Crossing, the Eel River Bar First Nation and the Local Service Districts of Balmoral-St.Maure, Chaleur, Dalhousie Junction, Dundee, Lorne, McLeods, Point La Nim and part of Val D'Amours.