STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Feb. 10, 2021
René Barrette, the president of the Pontiac Quad Club (PQC), would love to have the club’s members gain access to the old CN Railway bed that was the subject of MRC bylaw 269-2021, which was officially tabled on Feb. 3.
“We need that trail, that would be great,” Barrette said.
He said that with the snowmobilers only being able to use the rail bed during the winter months, having access to it for the . . .
remainder of the year would get ATVs off the municipal roads that serve as club trails.
However, Barrette said the situation is at a sticking point given the Quebec Federation of Snowmobile Clubs’s demand that they help pay for the Portage du Fort train bridge up front several years ago, in addition to yearly insurance and lease payments.
“[The federation was] asking us for $50,000 cash right there plus it would have cost us with the insurance and all that, [and] the lease and all that, it would have cost the club at least $6,000 to $7,000 per year just to go across on the Ontario side,” he continued.
He explained that the club is hesitant to financially contribute because the club wouldn’t gain value in connecting Ontario and Quebec through the bridge, as most drivers would rather drive their car into Quebec before hitting trails.
Pontiac Snowmobile Drivers Association (PSDA) President Alain Goulet told The Equity that the quad club could indeed use the rail bed during the PSDA’s off-season months, but they chose not to contribute to either the Portage bridge or yearly payments.
“We paid $100,000 to the Quebec Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, and the federal government gave a $100,000 contribution and the quad federation was asked to pay $50,000 to the Quebec Snowmobile Federation, they were asked to pay their fair share for the project, they turned that down also,” Goulet explained.
He added that he was unsure whether the quad club would be able to now get on board with using the trail if they opted to start paying lease and insurance despite not assisting with the bridge payment.
Despite Barrette’s opposition to the PQC paying $6,000 to $7,000 each year, Goulet clarified that the total cost to the PSDA currently is $7,000, and therefore if the clubs split it would cost $3,500 each.
“I’d like to share that cost even though they’d use it nine months of the year and we’d only use it for three,” he said.
Barrette also felt as though the PSDA got special treatment from the MRC by being consulted on use of the rail bed throughout the tabling process of the bylaw.
The MRC’s passing of the bylaw provides a framework for legitimate usage of the trail through the provincial act respecting off-highway vehicles; the rail bed was previously being used through an agreement with CN Rail wherein trails were required to contain bypasses anywhere where it is within 100 metres of a house.
According to MRC land planner Alexandre Savoie-Perron, the bylaw does not have an influence on how off-highway vehicles negotiate leasing and insurance payments.
Article 89 of the act, which is titled Bill 71, states that, “Every off-highway vehicle club laying out or operating a trial must take out civil liability insurance each year in an amount fixed by government regulation.”
One thing that both Barrette and Goulet agreed on was needing more assistance from the Sûreté du Québec in patrolling trails to better police snowmobile and ATV users who have modified their exhaust and are creating noise above the legal threshold that may disrupt residents who live near trails.
“I’m 67, I’m a volunteer, I’m retired, I don’t want people —they know my address — I don’t want people to come down and break everything because I give them a fine. If it’s the police, it’s not the same thing,” Barrette said.
Goulet said that the SQ typically did not return phone calls from the club.
