Canadian town votes to close down

The town's mine - its main employer - has closed

The residents of an isolated town in eastern Quebec have voted to pack their bags after the community's biggest employer shut down.

Murdochville's problem

Population: 1,200

Mining jobs lost: 650

No significant businesses have been attracted to Murdochville - a town of about 1,200 people - after copper mining firm Noranda shut its smelting plant in April, with the loss of 300 jobs.

A further 350 jobs were lost three years ago when Noranda's mine closed.

On Sunday 635 townspeople took part in a referendum on leaving - 65% of them opted to quit.

In all, 85% of the 799 registered voters took part in the poll.

Now it is up to the Quebec Government to make the final decision on closing the town down.

And local people are holding out for compensation.

Gerald Young, who voted "yes", told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: "We won't be able to live in the town with no work.

"We want the government to do something for people to move away."

Scarce work

Joan Blondin, who voted "No", told CBC: "This is my home and I want to remain where I was happiest in my life.

"The government could find employment for the unemployed and help support the town and keep us going."

The town is at the far end of the Gaspe peninsula, a starkly beautiful and largely agricultural region where work is scarce.

When Noranda opened a copper mine and formed the town in the 1950s it seemed jobs were guaranteed for generations.

But the town has become a victim of the low price of copper.

Communities struggle

Noranda had been struggling to cut costs and decided it was too expensive to keep the mine and smelter running.

Nearly the entire town depended on the mine. It is a familiar story for Canadians, who have built the modern country largely on the exploitation of natural resources.

Other mining towns have shut down in the past. Remote communities across the country are struggling as farming jobs become scarcer.

And the fishing community in Newfoundland is closing this year because it is too expensive to keep going.