Chris Lowrey
MUN. of PONTIAC March 1, 2018
The Quebec government has made it mandatory for every municipality in the province to formulate an emergency management plan.
The move comes in response to last spring’s flooding where many people in the region were forced out of their homes and had to deal with red tape, uncertainty and a lack of communication from provincial representatives.
The goal is to help municipalities better prepare for natural disasters like last year’s floods.
Just over 30 per cent of Quebec municipalities already have an emergency plan.
The Municipality of Pontiac is in the minority as one of the municipalities that has an emergency plan.
The municipality is currently going over that plan as part of a post-mortem of the flood response.

“We had a plan, but we can always improve it,” said Municipality of Pontiac Communications Director Dominic Labrie.
Labrie said that before the flooding, the municipality didn’t have an emergency plan that dealt specifically with a flood scenario but one is currently being drafted.
“We have a better understanding of the water levels,” Labrie said.
Although the province has committed to financially assist municipalities in formulating a plan, Labrie said smaller communities like the Municipality of Pontiac need more help.
“It’s one thing to have a plan, but funds are needed to put the plan in place,” he said.
Labrie pointed to the expenditures the municipality will need to make: boats, sand bags, road signs and more need to be purchased to make sure the municipality can do everything it needs to do.
“It’s easy for the government to ask us to have a plan but we need the funds,” Labrie said.
Going forward, Labrie said the biggest priority will be protecting the village of Quyon, and – more specifically – the water treatment plant.
The municipality is examining the best option when it comes to building a dyke. One option is to construct one in the same place as the makeshift one created by residents last spring. The other option is to erect a dyke near the Quyon River, which caused much of the flooding of the field near the Lion’s Hall.
“If we can fix the problems in Quyon it will give us more resources to help other areas,” Labrie said.
Argus Environment has been contracted by the municipality to determine the best place to construct the dyke and help secure financing from the government.
Labrie said that the municipality of Deux Montagnes is also trying to construct a dyke, but the province is forcing the municipality to hold public consultations first, which could take two years and is relatively expensive according to Labrie.
“In the meantime, we had a meeting with public works and the fire department to get ready in case there’s a flood this spring,” said Labrie.