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Short FCMQ video


Cnc
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As another season winds Down, My club posted this on FB about volunteers as a tribute to them and an encouragement to get involved. While the commentary is in French I am sure the message comes through and it is a nice clip reminding us of the great season we just had and it doesn’t happen without lots of volunteers behind the scenes.

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7 hours ago, EastMark said:

Why is their trail system so much better than Maine ? What are the major differences in their model compared to Maines ?

Im amazed at the quality of the trails and frequency of the grooming and wonder.....

It takes a lot of money to keep up trails like they do, how much is a Maine trail pass?

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5 hours ago, grumpysanta said:

THANKS   CNC..  have a good summer if we get one  Snowing like crazy today..

Snowed all day here too, about 15 cm and we had a lot of snow still on the ground. I hear the Charlevoix area had 31 cm out of this storm. While snowmobiling is my biggest passion, I’m getting itchy to get the motorcycle out, should be good to go by July or August.😄

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7 hours ago, 800steve said:

It takes a lot of money to keep up trails like they do, how much is a Maine trail pass?

We also have a government that invests in the sport in the name of tourism, not sure what other provinces or states do.

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18 hours ago, 800steve said:

It takes a lot of money to keep up trails like they do, how much is a Maine trail pass?

Couldn't agree more on the cost of the Maine trail pass. For a resident I think I pay 45 or 55 per sled for the season....so about $100. Secondarily we support either 6 or 7 clubs by choice....roughly another $200. The majority of sledders here don't generally do that.

I know money holds some clubs back in Maine for equipment and even basic fuel sometimes. They need more money in the prime sledding areas in Maine. Quebec surely seems to have it figured out. We have decided after buying the Quebec non resident season pass this year (around 270 a sled I think) and we will continue doing that. It is so worth it for the quality of your trails.

Curious...What does a Quebecian resident pay for a sled for the season ? In Maine its about double for a non resident.

Sorry to hijack this a bit....the video just shows how much You guys have it together up there.

Edited by EastMark
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11 hours ago, Cnc said:

We also have a government that invests in the sport in the name of tourism, not sure what other provinces or states do.

This is brilliant. Makes perfect sense.

I admit ignorance on what participation the State of Maine adds to the sport...but it sure brings a lot of trailers into Maine every weekend.

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There actually is no difference in the price paid by residents and non-residents.  This past season, everyone paid $325 for a season pass if they bought before December 9th.  Afterwards, the full season pass rose to $400.  Antique sleds (twenty years and older) cost $240 with no pre-season discount.  Trail passes sold on the trail were $575 (the price was set that high as a deterrent to sledders taking the chance that they wouldn't get caught).  Daily, three-day and weekly passes were also available, and the prices are shown on the FCMQ's website.

$42.60 of the season pass was the cost of the $1,000,000 in civil liability that was part and parcel of each trail pass sold.  Canadian residents who could show proof of being otherwise insured were eligible for a refund of that amount.  I'm not sure if our U.S. neighbours were similarly eligible for that refund, but I can check.

The Québec government contributes relatively (and surprisingly) little new money directly into the trail network.  Québec residents pay a fairly hefty annual sled registration fee (up around $80.00 per sled) and the government remits a portion of that (around $20? ...again I'd have to check) back to clubs through the intermediary of the FCMQ.  However the Québec government work closely with the regional tourism promotion offices who in turn work with the FCMQ.  A portion of these offices' budgets are underwritten by the provincial and federal governments.  The Federal Government has also stepped up significantly with regional government grants and twice now has contributed over $10 millions dollars towards the purchase of groomers and the improvement of trail infrastructure across the country

The Québec and municipal governments also help enforce the mandatory purchase of trail pass/membership cards (the two are synonymous) for people using the trail network.  As everyone here knows, club membership is mandatory for anyone using the trail network, and this is enforced mercilessly!  The philosophy here is "if you want to play, you have to pay".  And, apart from a few whiners on facebook and a couple of forums (not this one!!), everyone seems to agree with that.  Just my three cents worth ...

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2 hours ago, Gullyrider said:

  Just my three cents worth ...

Don’t forget we have done away with the pennies in Canada so your 3 cents worth is rounded up to 5 cents, talk about inflation! 😁

Good words gully rider, one thing I do wish is there was a discount for multiple sleds. I have 3 and it gets expensive to put passes on them all when one considers I can only ride one at a time.

 

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Thanks CNC and Eastmark.  In Québec, before the club membership more or less morphed into a "trail pass" (it's still a club membership, by the way), we used to have a Family Membership.  However, so many people were gaming the system (it's amazing how many 45 year old "dependants" we had) that things changed and the card/sticker became associated with a unique machine.  I know it is expensive when you own multiple machines, but administrating it otherwise would be a nightmare.  It's worse for our nearby Ontario members who often put both Ontario and Québec stickers on their machines.  Dual province stickers were tried and failed, and any proposal that results in lower club revenues just won't fly.

By the way, I just checked out the distribution of snowmobile registration fees and, on a Quebec registration costing $94.60 annually, $40.00 is remitted to the FCMQ for distribution to member clubs. 

As far as membership numbers go, our club's numbers have never been higher.  And provincially, it has risen by 5% per year for the past several years and now tops 100,000.  However, as far as members who actually realize that they're part of a volunteer organization goes (many pass buyers don't even realize that they are, by default, members of a club), generally the picture is not as rosy.  That being said, we're remarkably lucky in our club.  As you can see from the attached, we have a good mix of young and old on our Board, and we're pretty successful when it comes to conscripting non-board members to help out with routine trail maintenance and special projects.   Things are going great at the moment ... I hope it lasts!

25487154_10155087689291846_8627998008810235504_o.jpg

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3 hours ago, Gullyrider said:

Thanks CNC and Eastmark.  In Québec, before the club membership more or less morphed into a "trail pass" (it's still a club membership, by the way), we used to have a Family Membership.  However, so many people were gaming the system (it's amazing how many 45 year old "dependants" we had) that things changed and the card/sticker became associated with a unique machine.  I know it is expensive when you own multiple machines, but administrating it otherwise would be a nightmare.  It's worse for our nearby Ontario members who often put both Ontario and Québec stickers on their machines.  Dual province stickers were tried and failed, and any proposal that results in lower club revenues just won't fly.

By the way, I just checked out the distribution of snowmobile registration fees and, on a Quebec registration costing $94.60 annually, $40.00 is remitted to the FCMQ for distribution to member clubs. 

As far as membership numbers go, our club's numbers have never been higher.  And provincially, it has risen by 5% per year for the past several years and now tops 100,000.  However, as far as members who actually realize that they're part of a volunteer organization goes (many pass buyers don't even realize that they are, by default, members of a club), generally the picture is not as rosy.  That being said, we're remarkably lucky in our club.  As you can see from the attached, we have a good mix of young and old on our Board, and we're pretty successful when it comes to conscripting non-board members to help out with routine trail maintenance and special projects.   Things are going great at the moment ... I hope it lasts!

25487154_10155087689291846_8627998008810235504_o.jpg

Thank You!

GutZ

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You're welcome!  On a historical note, the birch surrounding the placard was cut almost 50  years ago by John Roos and his son Clinton (extreme right in photo), who was a little gaffer at the time.  Before the first generation of Gully Riders built our current clubhouse, the placard hung above the piano in the club's unofficial residence, the dearly departed Long Lake Lodge.  Luckily, by the time the Lodge succumbed to fire (sniff ...), the sign had already been moved to it's new home.  When something uses the term "autoneige", you know it's old!

 

Long Lake Lodge.jpg

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