Francis Brière, mayor of The Nation, talks about future goals for his municipality. He attaches a great deal of importance to building new homes, renovating existing buildings and ensuring the success of tourism and cultural activities to help his community prosper. 

Francis reflected on significant developments that have occurred over the last few months, such as the announcement of a fundraising campaign to be placed towards the renovation of the St-Isidore arena and the plans to enhance the cultural life in the region.

Developing the town 

When Francis Brière addresses his goals for the future of The Nation, he emphasizes the importance of growing the municipality: “When I became mayor, part of the campaign was to make growth happen and to make sure that growth continues to happen. When we say that, it’s not only on the commercial side but also on the residential [side]. Right now we’re seeing in one of our bigger centers, which is Limoges, lots of housing is being build.’’ 

In fact, in order to ensure that The Nation continues to grow, the mayor tells us about some of the renovations happening in the area such as the town’s fundraising campaign of 500 000$, which was established to renovate the cooling system of the St-Isidore arena. According to the Mayor: “We’ve been lucky enough to have our brine system, which is the cooling system of our arena, last over 60 years now, and it’s now become - not that it’s not functional, but it’s become to the point where it’s no longer reliable.’’ says the mayor. 

The cultural life 

Besides The Nation’s hiking trails, it’s also known for housing the Calypso water park, which the mayor considers himself fortunate to have something in his municipality that brings in a considerable amount of tourists: “We’re quite lucky that we have Calypso that brings in about 250-275 thousand people per summer so that there are a lot of movements that’s based around that. We support Calypso in some of their endeavours that they take on, and so that’s something that’s a big plus for us.’’

In addition, The Nation has already had multiple events within its region such as the 150th anniversary in St-Albert, the festival de la plume in St-Isidore, Canada Day and the upcoming Riceville fair, all of which Francis Brière highlights when we talk about strengthening the cultural life of the municipality.