At a glance: An Access to Information request concerning Habitat Mont-Tremblant has exposed how Mayor Pascal De Bellefeuille orchestrated a last-minute amendment to force through a controversial 16-unit housing project on Chemin du Village (Mont Plaisant). By fast-tracking this development behind closed doors, the Mayor completely ignored the CCU’s rejection (Comité consultatif d’urbanisme) and bypassed critical environmental protections—earning this project the title of “LAGO 2.0.”
Why it matters: This directly contradicts the Mayor’s campaign promise to ensure transparency and hold consultations for any new project affecting residents’ quality of life. There is zero social acceptability for this project. By forcing through the approval process, the administration has bypassed environmental guardrails and greenlit construction on steep slopes (pentes fortes), putting the lake’s watershed directly at risk.
The blow-by-blow: Internal logs reveal a calculated effort to keep the public, the council, and even senior staff in the dark until the very last second:
May 5: A closed-door plenary session ends in a deadlocked 4-4 tie among councillors. The Mayor refuses to cast a tie-breaking vote or take a public stance.
May 7 (8:52 p.m.): Interim Urbanisme Director Louis-Martin Levac drafts the amendment, writing in all caps: “ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY.”
May 8: Asked if he was going to send the draft text to the rest of council, the Mayor indicated he preferred that the resolution not be circulated, with the Greffe noting that distribution was a purely political choice, not a legal obligation. At 5:59 p.m., Mr. Levac finalized the amendment text.
May 11 (10:00 a.m.): The Interim Director General (Amélie Provost) was finally briefed, having been completely frozen out of the loop until the morning of the vote.
May 11 (6:30 p.m.): Just 30 minutes before the public meeting, the complex amendment was presented orally to councillors. The Greffe’s notes confirm: “The elected officials are surprised, nobody had read the text.“
The shocking statement: Councillor Patrick Léonard—who officially introduced the amendment at the public meeting—later admitted he was merely a spokesperson, stating he “had no idea he was supposed to read that tonight.”
The 3 questions the Mayor must answer: Why did the Mayor prefer to block the text of the amendment from being shared with city councillors for days before forcing a vote? Why did the Mayor fail to notify his own Interim Director General before May 11, despite holding the final resolution for several days? Why did the Mayor fail to provide a written copy of the amendment to councillors before the vote, choosing instead to ignore the CCU’s rejection and risk the lake’s watershed on steep slopes?
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.