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A Gatineau, Que., businesswoman who once ran a restaurant on Aylmer’s main street was one of two people who died in a crash in the city Friday, according to several people who knew her well.
Véronique Plourde was “an epicurean person, a unifier, full of gentleness, tenderness and light,” said Jean-Christophe Mercier, a friend of Plourde who is close with her family, in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada.
Mercier said Plourde, 34, was returning from an evening out with her friends when she collided with another vehicle on boulevard des Allumetières shortly after midnight Friday.
News of her death left him in shock, he said.
“It has created a gaping hole in my heart,” Mercier said.
3 injured in collision
Three people were taken to hospital after the head-on crash, Gatineau police said Friday.
Both drivers were pronounced dead upon arrival, while the third person, a passenger riding with Plourde, was in critical condition.
Police have not provided an update since Friday about the condition of the passenger. The identity of the other driver who died has not been made public.
Police are seen on boulevard des Allumetières on Friday morning after an overnight collision between chemin Vanier and boulevard des Grives. (Mateo Garcia-Tremblay/Radio-Canada)Ran L’Aubergiste restaurant until 2023
Mercier described Plourde as someone who was resilient and who persevered to keep her Aylmer restaurant, L’Aubergiste, open and running after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Plourde told CBC/Radio-Canada that new COVID-19 rules were affecting her business and that she’d taken a second job to make ends meet.
At the end of 2023, L’Aubergiste finally closed. Mercier said he was there on its final day.
“I sincerely hope that people will cherish [her] memory. She was truly a bon vivant,” he said in French.
“We’re keeping her memory alive in our hearts, our memories, photos and anecdotes.”
Véronique Plourde owned L’Aubergiste, a restaurant on rue Principale in Aylmer, until it closed at the end of 2023. (Radio-Canada)
Plourde’s death is a “huge loss for the entire community,” said Guy Leblanc, general manager of the Galeries Aylmer shopping centre.
Leblanc told Radio-Canada in French that he considered himself “like a second father” to Plourde.
“For her young age, she had already accomplished a lot,” recalled Leblanc, a promoter for the local business community. “I always loved the drive she had, always pushing herself.”
He said he plans to organize a gathering in her honour, adding it would be a “festive” event “because that’s what Véronique would have wanted.”