Growing debate over what to do with abandoned Western Quebec mine

CTV Ottawa: Dispute over abandoned mine The debate over what to do with the abandoned western Quebec mine is explosive. CTV's Megan Shaw explains.

There is a growing debate in Western Quebec over what to do with an abandoned mine that is rapidly increasing in popularity.

The Wallingford-Back-Mine is the newest tourist attraction, but the locals in the Municipality of Mulgrave-et-Derry say the attention is unwanted.

CTV Ottawa showcased the mine last winter, after being invited to a hockey game organized inside the picturesque cavern. Since, residents say hundreds of people have been coming by to see one of Mother Nature’s treasures.

Jean-Marie Duchamps, who lives in the Gatineau hills, says the area is not built for the hundreds of new visitors, and that there are no properly paved roads, no garbage cans, or parking lots to support tourists.

Duchamps says as a result people are littering, and parking off to the side of small dirt roads, preventing other vehicles from passing.

According to residents, there are a few solutions being discussed.

The first includes turning the Government owned mine from private to public, and then having the municipality create proper roads that lead up to it. While option two is to get rid of the mine all together, by blowing it up.

Activists say collapsing the mine is out of the question.

“We have to do something! It is such a beautiful site, and it has so much potential. It has historical potential, recreational potential,” said Chantal Crete, who is fighting to keep the Wallingford-Back-Mine.

There is a meeting scheduled Wednesday to further discuss what to do with the mine.