Our little in-house survey asking readers of the regional newspaper Le Haut-Saint-François to choose between Cantons-de-l’Est or Estrie showed a very large majority in favour of Cantons-de l’Est (Eastern Townships).
The exercise, which had nothing scientific about it, was simply intended to take the pulse of the population in the context of the change of name of the administrative region which is currently the subject of great debate.
At the time of this writing, 41 people had participated in the exercise by registering their preference. Of this number, 34 persons and one organization, the Bury Historical and Heritage Society, expressed their preference for Cantons-de-l’Est, while 6 persons wanted to keep the Estrie name.
It should be noted that the Commission municipale du Québec (Quebec municipal commission) was mandated to organize and hold a public consultation on the name change of the Estrie region to that of the Cantons-de-l’Est region. A period of written transmission of opinions and briefs has been completed, as well as a virtual public consultation. Other in-person public consultations could take place if conditions allow. At the end of the process, the Commission will issue a report, planned for the end of April, on the comments received.
The newspaper would like to thank the readers who agreed to participate in the exercise.