Catégorie : Tribune-Express (Hawkesbury)

« It’s a group effort, » said Christine Bonneau-O’Neill, owner/operator of L’Orignal Packing Ltd. « I don’t do this all alone. »

The L’Orignal-based meat-processing-and-sales business earned three awards during the October 15 ceremony for the 15th Edition of the Gala of Excellence at the Caledonia Community Centre in St-Bernardin. The event, organized every two years by the Prescott-Russell Community Development Corporation highlights the achievements of businesses and businessowners in the Prescott-Russell region.

L’Orignal Packing Ltd, founded in 1971 by Jean-Guy Bonneau, received awards in the Retail and Agri-Business categories, and also the Business Overall Excellence award.

« This is a morale booster for the whole team, for all our hard work and achievement, » said Bonneau-O’Neill. « The awards are great. We love encouraging local producers, because it’s a win-win. »

Other mayor award winners announced during the evening included: Studio/Academy Shantaly of Embrun with both the Woman Entrepreneur Award and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award; Mini Jeux Gonflables Chartrand of Fournier with the Jury Award; Danika Bourgeois Desnoyers and Brigitte Lavergne of Aventures Ahoy Adventures of Casselman, who received the New Business Award and the Young Entrepreneurs Award.

Brauwerk Hoffman Brewery of Rockland received the Daniel Gigault Award, which recognizes a young entrepreneur « whose business and personal successes contribute to the well-being of citizens of Prescott and Russell » and also to their community’s economic development.

Yves Berthiaume of Hawkesbury was named the recipient of the Emeritus Award for his community involvement over past years.

Other award winners honoured during this year’s Gala include: Garden Path Homemade Soap of Vankleeek Hill with the Tourism Business award; Arboris Inc. of Casselman with the Services Business award and the Community Participation award; Impression Design of Limoges, with the Independent Worker award; Brasserie Tuque de Broue Brewery Inc. of Embrun, with the Manufacturing Business award; Lamarche Electric Ltd. of Rockland, with the Inclusive Business award.

The Cougars are now tied in second place with Clarence Castors with a game in hand. The Cougars and the Castors will be facing off Saturday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. at Robert Hartley Sports Complex in Hawkesbury.

South Glengarry firefighter were called to the location at approximately 7:45 a.m. The house was fully engulfed in flames before the firefighters arrived.

The fire was extinguished in about an hour. North Glengarry Township firefighters also arrived to assist. The building is described as a total loss. There was no one inside the house at the time of the fire.

The OPP and South Glengarry Fire Department are investigating the cause of the fire.

On October 13, the Community Street Crime Unit in Hawkesbury executed a search warrant at around 2 pm. Assisted by the OPP Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the OPP Canine Unit, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) searched a residence on Regent Street, where officers seized a quantity of suspected Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, Diazepam, illegal Cannabis, and replica firearms.

Mathieu Gascon, 37, from Hawkesbury has been charged with unauthorized possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose, and possessing methamphetamine, cannabis, a schedule IV substance, and other schedule I substances for the purpose of trafficking.

Gascon was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court in L’Orignal on November 9.

Sitting councillor Peter Barton won his election race in Ward 1 alongside ex-councillor and 2018 mayoral candidate Paul Emile Duval, surpassing newcomer Denis Welden. All newly-elected councillors will be taking their seats on Champlain Township council in November.

Norman Riopel retains the title of mayor after winning by acclamation, alongside councillors Michel Lalonde and André Roy in Ward 2, and Sarah Bigelow and Gerry Minor in Ward 4.

Sergine Rachelle Bouchard wins race for le Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’est ontarien ahead of André Bonneau.

Corina Parisen, Sue Wilson and Gilles Fournier were elected by acclamation as trustees of the Upper Canada District School Board, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontaro and le Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario respectively.

The results will be certified by the township clerk’s office on October 25.

Jacques Tranchemontagne won the seat with 599 votes in Monday night’s municipal election. He defeated Simon Rozon by 18 votes. Rozen held a seat on council and chose to run for the deputy mayor’s position rather than seek reelection as a councillor.

Incumbent councillors Karina Sauvé and Stephanie Sabourin won their reelection bids with 528 votes for Sauvé and 648 for Sabourin. Monique Desjardins will joint hem as the newest member of township council, receiving 881 ballots of support. The other two challengers for council seats, Pierre Langlois and Thaila Riden, received 520 and 288 votes respectively.

Mayor Robert Kirby was acclaimed for another term, with no declared challengers to his position at the end of the August nomination period.

Sergine Rachelle Bouchard won reelection as East Hawkesbury Township’s and Champlain Township’s representative on the Conseil scolaire district catholique de l’Est ontarien with 324 votes to challenger André Bonneau’s 199. All of the incumbent school trustees with the Conseil scolaire publique de l’Est Ontario, the Upper Canada District School Board, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario were acclaimed without challenge to their positions.

« There’s a certain amount of relief, » said Lefebvre, during a phone interview, following confirmation of his successful campaign to become the next mayor of Hawkesbury. He described the past few months of campaigning, including daily door-to-door canvassing of voters as « very busy and very intense. »

Lefebvre received an overwhelming amount of support for his mayoral bid, with 2468 confirmed votes after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Incumbent mayor Paula Assaly received 896 votes for her reelection campaign effort. The new mayor-elect indicated he was still surprised at the amount of votes he received.

« I’m always an optimist for everybody else, except myself, » he said, with a chuckle.

Lefebvre’s immediate goal when he is sworn in next month as the new mayor is to ensure that he and the new town council « work together and participate equally together » and also have a good working relationship with administration and staff.

« We have a good team that got elected and they are motivated, » he said, « and have a good young staff to work with. »

Lefebvre expressed thanks to Hawkesbury residents who turned came out for the Monday poll and also for the advance polls earlier in the month.

« I appreciate the turnout of people who wanted to vote, » he said. « Some people were turning up today on crutche or in wheelchairs so they could vote. It was good to see people lining up and willing to wait to vote. »

New council

Several incumbent councillors will rejoin Lefebvre at the table in November along with two new faces.

Raymond Campbell, André Chamaillard, Yves Paquette, and Antonios Tsourounakis all won their reelection bids. Paquette received 1715 ballots, Campbell 1682, Tsourounakis, 1662, and Chamaillard 1557.

Joining them at the council table in November will be Jeanne Charlebois, a former mayor of Hawkesbury now turned councillor. She polled 1930 ballots to support her return to council. Close behind Charlebois in ballot numbers is Julie Séguin with 1878.

Incumbent councillor Lawrence Bogue lost his reelection bid, polling 1280 votes. Among the other four candidates for council seats, Marie Valérie received 1526, Yvon Cayen 1296, Simon Guindon 1263, and Gérard Malo 650.

André-Paul Lalonde will represent Hawkesbury on le Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien, receiving 1040 votes compared to his rival, Gilles Roch Grefee with 862.

The document alleges Mayor Paula Assaly led a personal campaign of “malicious and inappropriate behaviour,” harassment and false allegations to force interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Director of Human Resources Dominique Dussault from her position. Dussault alleges Assaly’s mistreatment stems from a 2020 request for an investigation by the Integrity Commissioner which revealed Assaly had, on several occasions, overreached “the authority and powers of the office of mayor.” 

“I pushed backed and I don’t think she liked that,” said Dussault.  

In March 2022, Dussault filed a formal harassment complaint against Assaly, but the mayor’s behaviour towards Dussault continued. Despite being “implicitly or explicitly aware of Ms. Dussault’s distress,” council failed to take any action on the matter, leaving Dussault with no other option but to take medical leave on April 25, according to the court documents. Two days after taking her leave, the municipality informed Dussault her harassment complaint was reviewed by council and remedial measures discussed during an in-camera meeting. However, according to the court filings, Assaly participated in the discussion regarding the corrective actions to be taken against her, a potential violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA). 

Furthermore, Dussault claims the filing of her complaint with the Integrity Commissioner was “intentionally and maliciously delayed” to avoid a decision against Assaly’s interest surfacing before the October municipal election. The MCIA states an Integrity Commissioner cannot make an application to a judge during a regular election period starting on the nomination day through to the election day. That period would be from August 19 to October 24 of this year. 

Believing the council and town administration were unwilling to address the harassment she faced, Dussault resigned from her position on September 27, 2022. Failing to handle her last complaint properly, Dussault claims the town “no longer intended to be bound” by their employment contract, leading to a constructive dismissal. 

“I took every step I needed to because I wanted to keep working at the city, I thought I was going to finish my career in Hawkesbury,” said Dussault, referring to her attempts to speak with human resources and file complaints to rectify her situation. 

Dussault is suing the town of Hawkesbury for $143,596 for breach of contract and constructive dismissal, which represents 12 months salary, $100,000 for breach of good faith and fair dealing, $25,000 in punitive damages, and $50,000 for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA). Further damages will also be sought for loss of benefits, including medical and dental insurance and pension, and expenses incurred in the search of comparable employment, the amount of which to be presented ahead of trial. 

The town of Hawkesbury and Mayor Assaly declined to comment. Assaly stated in an email that “council is not in a position to make comments on litigation matters.” 

Dussault filed the new suit against the Corporation of the Town of Hawkesbury on September 30, seeking $270,000. This filing is additional to the $200,000 sought in the November 2021 suit against Hawkesbury Mayor Paula Assaly and the municipality. The reason for the recent legal action has yet to be determined.

The first suit against the town stemmed from allegations of defamation after Dussault filed a request with the town integrity commissioner to investigate the mayor for municipal code of ethics violations and interference in municipal operations. This request followed after Dussault assumed the acting CAO position in July 2020. The integrity commissioner’s report was later released and received for review by the municipal council, despite the mayor’s attempts to block the report from reaching council.a

Dussault was confirmed as the town’s full-time chief administrator in March 2021. Several months later a new report from the integrity commissioner was provided to council, alleging Assaly defamed Dussault in a campaign against the reports and what the mayor claimed was “toxic atmosphere” at town hall.

In May 2022, Dussault left her position as CAO for medical leave following a contentious April council meeting which saw Dussault criticize the mayor and council for not taking action against complaints laid out in the integrity commissioner’s 2021 report. Samuel Carderelli, Hawkesbury’s director of recreation and tourism, has been serving as the town’s interim CAO since May 2022.

Officials from the town of Hawkesbury, as well as members of council, were contacted and chose not to comment. Dussault’s lawyer, Chantal Beaupré, did not respond in time for publishing.

Civil and adult criminal court cases are public and can be searched online via the Ontario government’s Court Case Search available through www.ontario.ca.