Gatineau residents given more time to sound off on bar hours

The City of Gatineauis extending last call on an invitation to residents to sound off aboutwhether bars in Hull should stay open until 3 a.m.

Nearly 2,000 people have offeredtheir opinions viaan online surveywhich was supposed to end Jan.15, but will now accept submissions until Jan. 31.

In 1997, the former City of Hull forced bars to match Ottawa's closing time of 2 a.m. in an effort to curb late-night noise and violence in the neighbourhood.

The area's councillor,Cdric Tessier, proposed last year to look at returning to a closing time of3 a.m., the norm in the rest of Quebec.

Bars in the area support the change, saying itevens the playing field with those other businesses.

"It's a pilot project, let's try it and see what happens," said Catherine Marseau, co-owner of HullbarOu Quoi.

"We will be the first to say, 'Look, this isn't working,' or, 'You have no reason to worry,'" she said in French.

Decision in the spring

Several of the approximately 20 people who attended a community meeting on the issueWednesday said they feared returning to the bad old days of the 1990s.

"There was fighting, there was screaming and it cost a lot to police [the area]," said longtime downtown resident Michel Moreau in French.

"Lots of people had to go to court, which also costs more. I don't think we need to relive this."

The survey asks if bars should be allowed to extend their hoursin certain areas, or across the entire district.

Gatineaucity council is expected tovote on the issuein the spring.