The United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) and the Québec Municipalité régionale de comté (MRC) d’Argenteuil, and MRC de Papineau have renewed their Friendship Agreement/Pacte d’amitié. A meeting was held on Tuesday, August 29 at Kenauk Nature in Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours to plan the future of the cooperation agreement between the three regional governments in two provinces.
The Friendship Agreement was first ratified on August 30 2012 and aims to enable the three regions to work towards the development of frank and sincere relationships as well as to maintain privileged ties through various activities that facilitate mutual understanding and knowledge of each territory. It also encourages the creation of natural and strategic alliances in the areas of culture, heritage, recreational tourism, education, sports, the environment, and social commitment.
The Friendship Agreement has led to numerous achievements over the past decade, including the launch of the Cycl-O-Route, the Ottawa River Protection Declaration, and a partnership with the Ottawa Riverkeeper. As part of this partnership, the three regional governments have organized a total of nine shoreline cleanups and launched an app for self-collection and quantification of the amount of waste removed from the region’s waterways.
“We have every reason to be proud of the results achieved to date thanks to the work carried out between our three territories. We reiterated our interest in continuing this collaboration by confirming our common objectives. I am confident that the Friendship Agreement will continue to support the socio-economic development of our territories while enabling us to join forces in the areas of sustainable development and recreational tourism,” said UCPR Warden Normand Riopel.
“Our Friendship Agreement was developed around the idea of preserving, conserving, and valuing the Ottawa River. It is clear today that what is emerging is even greater and even arouses the interest of other regions. The complicity that unites our people, combined with the complementary nature of our territories, inspires us to undertake projects on themes that we haven’t tackled within the framework of the Friendship Agreement until now,” said MRC d’Argenteuil Prefect Scott Pearce.
Officials at the Friendship Agreement meeting decided a committee will be mandated to ensure the implementation of new projects and the continuity of existing projects, including the Cycl-O-Route and the iCollecte app.
