Raphaël Bédard and Émilie Lemay could not connect their micro-cheese factory to high-speed Internet, even though Bell’s fiber optic wires were just passing through.
They have made many representations to the company in recent months, waited on the phone, pleaded their case to various employees of the firm, without success.
The couple, who live in a small municipality north of Maniwaki, in the Outaouais, spoke about their situation with local elected officials, looking for a way to force the hand of the telecommunications giant.
This week, Mr. Bédard and Ms. Lemay took advantage of a media platform to complain about their feeling of powerlessness in the face of Bell. In a report from Radio-Canada, which revealed the connection in 2020 of the chalet of the CEO of Bell to high speed, the owners of La Cabriole said they were tired of hanging customers who simply want to make an electronic payment.
They have been heard.
Émilie Lemay and Raphaël Bédard, owners of the micro-cheese dairy, La Cabriole
Photo: Screenshot
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Times-face
Bell’s director of government relations, Charles Gosselin, informed them on Friday that their issue will be resolved. Bell has in fact revised its plans for its Internet deployment in the municipality of Montcerf-Lytton, located a two-hour drive north of Gatineau. La Cabriole will be online by fall.
We had a beautiful morning. Mr. Gosselin, the Bell representative, called us with the good news that Bell was expanding the Montcerf project a bit. They add 20 new connections and we are one of those 20 connections. We were very happy.
The Gatineau Valley is one of the places in Quebec that is still trying to connect many of its businesses and main residences to high speed Internet.
This week, Radio-Canada revealed that a resort area in the municipality of Lac-Sainte-Marie, a little to the south, had already been connected to high speed. The project submitted by Bell had received grants from the governments of Canada and Quebec.
The fact that the president and CEO of Bell, Mirko Bibic, is the owner of one of these chalets has prompted several reactions from elected officials across the province.
In this report, Mr. Bédard said that he would have liked live close to the CEO of Bell
to have access to high speed too.
Often, he said, the connection is so bad in his business that he is forced to make his customers wait fifteen minutes for them to be able to pay by card. Sometimes, we get too embarrassed, then we tell them, when you have internet, send us a transfer
, told us Mr. Bédard earlier this week.
The pressure worked
A Bell spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the company would plug in the Bédard-Lemay couple’s cheese dairy, a small family business that has no permanent employees.
We have seen the concerns of Fromagerie La Cabriole and therefore have informed the owners that they are part of Bell’s expanded expansion plans in the region.
, explain Vanessa Damha.
Bell also proactively informed local MPs of the change in its plans in Montcerf-Lytton, according to the couple who received congratulatory calls from them on Friday.
La Cabriole cheese dairy in Montcerf-Lytton, near Maniwaki.
Photo : David Richard
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Ms. Lemay said she was particularly happy that other residences in the area were also going to be connected.
<q data-attributes="{"lang":{"value":"fr","label":"Français"},"value":{"html":"On est contents pour ces 20more houses, it is not just us who benefit from it. It makes us happy, doubly “,” text “:” We are happy for these 20 more houses, it is not just us who benefit from them. It makes us happy, doubly “}}” lang = “fr”>We are happy for these 20 more houses, it is not just us who benefit from them. It makes us happy, doubly, she says.
She adds that future connections in Quebec should be made as a priority in main residences and businesses, and not in chalets that are not occupied year round.
The couple say they’re convinced Bell has changed plans in their town following their media release.
It’s certain
, says Mr. Bédard. We were suffocated in the bureaucratic machine, even yesterday … There, this morning, it was a surprise
.
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