The big picture: The controversial Habitat Mont-Tremblant—a 16-unit project on Chemin du Village (Mont Plaisant) in the delicate Lac Mercier watershed—is being forced through despite zero social acceptability and a flagrant lack of transparency.
The breakdown:
Zero committee support: The Comité consultatif d’urbanisme (CCU) repeatedly rejected the project and never recommended it.
The timeline of flips: Council blocked the project twice—a January tie vote canceled by procedural error, then a 5-4 rejection on February 9—before suddenly passing it 5-4 on May 11.
The mayor’s shifting positions: Mayor Pascal De Bellefeuille personally enabled this reversal, taking three different stances: sitting out in January, voting to reject in February, and using his tie-breaking vote to approve in May.
The 30-minute mystery: The final approval relied on a complex amendment read aloud to councilors 30 minutes before the May 11 session. Councilor Patrick Léonard admitted he was merely a designated spokesperson with “no idea he had to read that tonight.”
The legal stonewall: On May 29, the mayor claimed the text came from the Greffe. Yet on June 12, external lawyers (PFD Avocats) formally wrote to Les Amis refusing to name the author, claiming the Ville “has no obligation” to disclose who writes amendments—directly contradicting the mayor’s campaign promise of transparency.
The information vacuum: Zero public consultations occurred this year, and no impact studies on seismic risks or Lac Mercier runoff were shared.
The bottom line: Citizen groups (Les Amis, the Association des résidents du lac Mercier, and the Comité de quartier des districts 1 & 2) are fully united in demanding a Village-wide development moratorium. Not one local resident has spoken in favor at council, and the developer never showed up to defend it.
Confronting the mayor directly during the June 8 meeting, local resident Susie Sicotte demanded to know who comes first—the citizens or the developers?
About Les Amis de Mont-Tremblant
Our mandate is to ensure the harmonious real estate development of the region while maintaining transparency and community acceptability.