Renald Beaulieu has served as a mayor for more than 20 years – first in the town of Longlac and from 2010 as mayor of Greenstone, an amalgamated municipality encompassing the communities of Longlac, Nakina, Geraldton, Beardmore and Caramat.
In this interview Mayor Beaulieu talks about some of his early accomplishments in Longlac, including projects to clean up the community, invest in waterfront development and provide services for francophones who accounted for 60 per cent of the population. The cleanup and the waterfront development made residents proud of their community and boosted the tourism industry, while the provision of services to Longlac’s francophones made them feel welcome and part of the community.
Mayor Beaulieu speaks about the important role the municipality played to support Greenstone Gold’s mine development project in Geraldton. “People think it just happens, but it doesn’t just happen,” he comments. Knowing how important the project would be for the region’s economy, the municipality made every effort to overcome such challenges as the requirement to reroute Highway 11 and displace 60 homeowners, a hydro plant, an OPP station, an interpretive centre and half the town’s golf course. The mine will employ close to 1,000 workers during construction and between 400 and 500 people once in production.
Mayor Beaulieu hopes Greenstone will benefit from mine development in the Ring of Fire and believes the project is finally on the right track with the First Nations taking the lead on planning for road access. He also comments on the importance of building positive relations with the First Nation communities in Greenstone.
One decision he is especially proud of is the town’s recruitment of student municipal councillors from the local high schools to both bring the voices of the town’s youth to Town Council and groom them to assume leadership roles in their community. “Every small municipality should do it,” he comments.
Having served in a leadership role for so long, Mayor Beaulieu points out the importance of listening, being a peacemaker and taking the time to explain unpopular decisions in a respectful manner. However, he warns that the poison spread by social media will be a disincentive to serving in elected roles and claims it is one reason he will be retiring from politics at the conclusion of his current term.