Communication difficulties experienced throughout the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region during the ice storm in late April was the focus of a presentation made to a federal parliamentary Standing Committee in Ottawa on June 6 by Patrick Bousez, Prefect of the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges and Mayor of Rivière-Beaudette.

During the five days Rivière-Beaudette was plunged into darkness in late April, the 911 center received a call volume equivalent to 70 percent of the calls made in the municipality in one year, Bousez testified before the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities at the House of Commons.

"The telecommunication networks were overloaded. We had difficulty communicating with each other on our cell phones because of problems with towers that were overloaded or because we had to conserve our device batteries," said Bousez.

"We faced serious communication challenges to reach the population during this crisis. My testimony revolved around these subjects and the members of the committee told me they retained what I said," he added.

Bousez compared the recent communication challenges to the 1960s when civil security and communication issues were more common.

Peter Schiefke, federal Member of Parliament (MP) for Vaudreuil-Soulanges who chairs the committee, invited Bousez and other elected officials from Quebec to testify on various issues. The committee has 12 elected representatives from all federal political parties

"This is the first time I've taken part in a federally-initiated commission. I really enjoyed the experience. It was very interesting. I thought it was important to take part, to talk about what we experienced last April during the major blackout caused by the ice storm," said Bousez.

"I was very flattered and honoured to have been invited to participate in this exercise. I thank Peter Schiefke for the invitation and experience. It was very interesting both as an elected official and as a citizen," he added.

Bousez said the committee's next role will be to produce a report after all the invitees have testified. 

After his appearance before the commission, Mr. Bousez received a dinner invitation from Claude DeBellefeuille, MP for Salaberry-Suroît.