Canada/Saguenay wants to consolidate five downtown corporations
Saguenay would like to combine the five downtown corporations into a single association.
The new association would bring together the Association des centres-villes de Chicoutimi, as well as those of La Baie, Jonquière, Kénogami and Arvida.
A transition committee has been set up by Saguenay's executive committee to lay the groundwork for the project. A first meeting will be held next week.
The new organization, which would begin operations in 2024, would become the merchants' privileged interlocutor with the City and Promotion Saguenay.
This decision was taken after Rues principales was mandated by the City to review the structure of the corporations.
The organization was asked to establish a diagnosis of current operations, make recommendations on governance and propose reorganization scenarios, according to the resolution adopted in August by members of the executive committee.
The recommendations were then presented to the Boards of Directors of the five corporations.
Bringing activities together
Chicoutimi downtown city councillor Mireille Jean points out that the new structure could, for example, enhance downtown activities by launching campaigns, festivals or joint projects.
However, she believes that the structure, whatever form it takes, will have to lighten the load for merchants.
For me, the formula of five associations or one association doesn't matter. Having a coordination mechanism is important. We don't want the structure to become too cumbersome, for example, and hinder the resilience or flexibility of each association," she maintains.
A budget to be determined
Charles Boudreault, president of the Chicoutimi Downtown Association, welcomes the project. He sees it as an opportunity for the associations to work together.
However, he points out that the budget of the new organization, which is still unknown, will have an impact.
It's going to take more budget, if we want to create a coordinating office. Otherwise, if the subsidies don't keep up, it's going to be harder to improve the whole thing, because at the moment, resources are a bit stretched.
A quote from Charles Boudreault, President of the Chicoutimi Downtown Association
Some retailers are reluctant
Merchants have not yet been informed of the project, confirmed Charles Boudreault. However, he assures us that the project will be presented to the members of the five associations.
According to the resolution adopted by the executive committee, the association will have a common governance structure representative of the particularities of each of the identified sectors.
However, merchants from downtown Arvida and Kénogami, interviewed by Radio-Canada, expressed reservations about the project.
The reality is that downtowns have very different needs," points out Émilie Gauthier, owner of Boutique Marie-Josée.
A single management structure would probably be bad for our downtowns," adds the woman who once represented Arvida merchants as president of the local corporation.
A few shops away, Jean Simard, co-owner of Cycles Amadeus, questions the project. Honestly, if it's to better develop downtowns, that's great. But I'm afraid we'll lose the identity of each downtown," he points out.
Mr. Simard had heard about the study commissioned from Rues principales. He says he asked for access to it, to no avail. It's great if things are moving forward, but it would be fun to be informed, to know what's going on in our downtowns," he laments.
The owner of the Jardins des fleurs boutique, Francine Lavoie, doesn't see any advantage in bringing the associations together.
Even if we unite everyone, I'm not sure it's going to achieve much, because there's always going to be one sector that gets more than the other," she says.
The shopkeeper, whose flower store will celebrate its 50th anniversary in downtown Kénogami next year, was once president of her corporation. Today, she says she no longer sees the benefits of being represented by such an organization.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca
