Small Quebec town contemplates bleak future after industry closure

A small town in Eastern Quebec, faced with the closure of its sole industry, held a referendum on Monday to decide whether there's any future for it.

Murdochville has been facing its own demise since Noranda decided in March to close its copper smelter, throwing 300 people out of work.

But a referendum is forcing residents to look hard at the town's prospects, and it's creating a rift between those who would rather remain in the isolated community on the Gasp, and those who wouldn't.

"There's people who want to stay, there's people who want to go," said Brian Furlott, who came to Murdochville 35 years ago from New Brunswick. "There's people who think there's an industry coming here, and for the moment, there isn't anything."

The Steelworkers Union sponsored the vote, which asks the 1,000 residents if they want to negotiate with the province for compensation so they could abandon their homes and move on.

• FROM MARCH 28, 2002: Noranda smelter closure to cost 300 jobs

When the foundry closed for good this spring, the province promised to find a new industry. Without one, the residents face a future of unemployment and dwindling services.

Mayor Marc Minville supported the referendum because he wants the question of the town's future resolved as soon as possible.

Michelle Fortin, for example, is planning to move her family to Montreal. "Each street has several empty houses on it," she said. "Pretty soon this place will be a ghost town."

Town councillors wanted to give the province until August to come up with a new employer.

Minville says it's better to start negotiations with the government and the mining company now, so that as many people as possible can receive compensation for leaving.

But Gilles Dunn, a 50-year resident, believes the province is more likely to find a new company for the town that to pay people to leave so it can knock down their houses. He wants the mayor to resign.