STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Nov. 25, 2020
The MRC Pontiac’s monthly meeting of mayors met on Nov. 25, with the main agenda items being the 2021 budget, Fibre Pontiac and local layoffs.
Warden Jane Toller and all 18 mayors were in attendance for the meeting, which was hosted virtually through Zoom and was also streamed live to the MRC’s Facebook page.
The meeting kicked off with Toller and each mayor thanking both outgoing Fort Coulonge mayor Gaston Allard and outgoing director of territory Régent Dugas.
Everyone had kind words for both men and wished them the best of luck in their next endeavors; Allard with his new job and Dugas with his retirement.
Pontiac Sorting Center layoffs
The Pontiac Sorting Center recently announced a total halt on all activities, laying off 23 employees after they were . . .
unable to use their facility as a landfill for construction waste.
The company had been dealing with issues related to the province’s Ministry of Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change (MELCC) and had been forced to continue to ship waste to the Lachute landfill site.
The sorting centre was hit with more than $40,000 in fines from the Minstry of Environment in January 2019 for a series of non-compliance issues.
Prior to that, the facility had been given 10 notices of non-compliance by the ministry since 2013.
During the media scrum following the meeting, Toller explained how various factors have led to the recent layoffs.
“The major issue is that they did not get approval to open their technical landfill so they have had to take their construction debris, etc. to Lachute and it’s been very expensive for them,” she said. “They had hoped by this point to be able to use their landfill.”
Toller said she recently spoke with Roma Gauvreau of Amor Construction, the sister company to the sorting centre, about what could be done to improve the situation.
“His frustration is there really are no regulations for sorting centres and he just feels that some of the requests are unreasonable, and I see his point of view,” she said.
Following similar layoffs in December 2019, director of operations Gerry Philippe told THE EQUITY that a ministry official had told him months prior that the technical landfill would soon get approval, but hadn’t received confirmation in writing. Philippe blamed the laying off of 32 employees on that confusion.
Toller said she felt the sorting centre has done what they need to do to get approval.
“They have a very sophisticated system for the treatment of asbestos and that was something that I had not known,” she said. “They have a whole building devoted to it actually and all kinds of safety precautions and equipment.”
During the MRC meeting, a resolution was passed to request the MELCC to resume their discussions with the company so that approval for the landfill might be realized soon.
2021 Budget
The 2021 budget amounted to a slight increase in expenses from 2020’s total of $8,257,956, rising to a balanced amount of $8,503,325. The information was presented during the meeting by MRC accountant Annie Vaillancourt, and the budget resolution was passed unanimously.
Along with balancing the budget, she explained that the MRC’s main goal was to reduce the municipalities’ share from $0.14 to $0.13 per $100 of assessment.
According to an MRC press release, “Economic development and revitalization of the Pontiac are also at the heart of the MRC Pontiac Council’s budgetary choices for 2021.”
The expenditures for the 2021 year are as follows:
• Administration: $1,626,183
• Public Safety and engineering: $454,382
• Assessment Services: $946,905
• Territory Planning and Development: $1,531,680
• Economic Development Projects and Activities: $2 962,775
• Transportation: $531,646.
• Renovation and Home Adaptation Programs Management: $31,500
• Cost of financing and capital expenses: $418,254
• Cost of electing a warden by universal suffrage (prorated over four years): $15,000
Miscellaneous
A bylaw proposing to allow access to the old Canadian National Railway corridor for some residents was brought to council by Dugas, although it was not tabled. The bylaw would authorize the use of snowmobiles and quads on the corridor within the municipalities of Bristol, Clarendon, Litchfield and Portage du Fort.
“We won’t be tabling this bylaw … we will be [getting] legal advice on the proposed bylaw and then we will be tabling this proposed bylaw by December,” explained Dugas.
He added that the wording of the bylaw will have to be done carefully, hence why he said legal advice will be sought.
A notice of motion regarding a draft bylaw was brought to council, with Director General Bernard Roy briefly outlining how future remuneration for mayors will be based off attendance at planning meetings and public council.
The bylaw was not tabled, and therefore an extensive breakdown of the bylaw was not introduced at the meeting.
With the MRC having an existing budget surplus this year, it was decided during the meeting that $10,000 would be taken from it and granted to regional food bank Bouffe Pontiac.
An MRC grant that had been delivered to the Municipality of Île du Grand Calumet in February 2020 was approved to be redirected from the “Night under the Stars” event that was scheduled for August and subsequently cancelled.
The $500 that was granted will now be used to bring Christmas gifts door to door during this year’s Christmas activity for children of the island.
Île du Grand Calumet Mayor Serge Newberry finished the meeting by bringing a problem to the council’s attention regarding inaccuracies coming from the MRC des Collines 9-11 dispatch.
“Sometimes the firemen don’t know where the fire is and that’s an issue,” Newberry said.
Toller said that MRC fire and public safety coordinator Julien Gagnon would investigate the situation.
