Geoff Agombar
Local Journalism Initiative
Fourteen regional offices of Services Québec will close for good by Nov. 8, including four in the Eastern Townships.
Stanstead, Bedford, Lac-Brome, and Cookshire-Eaton will all lose their local Services Québec office. Residents can continue to use phone or online services, or travel to another office in their region. To access in person services, they may have to travel as much 35 km away from their former local branch.
A Nov. 3 statement by the Syndicat de la Fonction Publique du Québec (SFPQ) regional president Franck di Scala denounces this round of closures, “These offices serve a population that is sometimes poorer and does not have access to transportation. These same people are sometimes unable to use online services and therefore require personalized support close to where they live. Moving to offices farther from these people will not bring them closer to a service offered by public service employees.”
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