STEPHEN RICCIO
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC Feb. 9, 2021
The Municipality of Pontiac (MoP) council held its monthly meeting on Feb. 9, linking up virtually via Zoom as it discussed a variety of topics, including the approval of funding for a Luskville beach association and affirming support for democracy, among others.
Mayor Joanne Labadie and each of the municipality’s six councillors were in attendance for the 7:30 p.m. meeting.
Beach association approval
The Luskville-based Association des Residents des rue de la plage Pierre Tremblay received funding for snow removal during the meeting, after having some of its residents attend the past several meetings to ask the council for updates on their status as an association.
A resolution was passed by the council to recognize the association and grant it “temporary financial assistance, the whole conditional to the conformity of the process and approval of the [Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH)].”
One resident stuck around until the end of the meeting to thank the council for approving funding for the community, while also asking why the assistance was temporary.
Labadie explained that the previous delay of several months for the association was to ensure that the municipality’s policy of assisting private associations was compliant with the MAMH. However, with the MAMH yet to provide an official response, Labadie said the municipality did not want to continue to leave the association without assistance.
Labadie had previously explained to members of the association during a prior council meeting that the municipality did not want to continue to risk sanctions by using public funds to assist another private association without official word from the MAMH. Speaking after the meeting, Labadie said that the risk of sanctions is still present, but she explained that with the assistance being temporary and conditional on MAMH confirmation, the association can be assisted in the meantime.
Democracy resolution
Approximately 10 minutes of the council meeting was used to pass a resolution pertaining to “Adherence to the declaration of commitment on democracy and respect.”
The text of the motion noted that the polarization of public opinion on social media has led to increased aggression and intimidation from members of the public towards elected municipal officials.
While the resolution had some relevance to the state of affairs in the MoP – given that the council voted in late 2020 to file an injunction to attempt to identify an anonymous Facebook user that was accused of harassment and bullying towards the mayor and several councillors – Labadie explained that it was simply part of a Union of Quebec Municipalities awareness campaign on democracy and respect.
Both councillors Nancy Draper Maxsom and Scott McDonald voted against the resolution, with Draper Maxsom noting that the time required to read the resolution could have been better used for other municipal affairs.
Labadie said that its purpose was to maintain the protection of democracy, and Draper Maxsom responded by saying that while she was in favour of protecting democracy, she felt the resolution was unnecessary.
“I certainly feel that it was a really important resolution that we continue to affirm our position as the Municipality of Pontiac, our support for democracy and democratic institutions,” Labadie explained after the meeting. “There’s no place in a civil society for the types of actions that we see happening, not only in our municipality but around the world: lies, misinformation, and it just subverts democracy.”
Finances
The municipality’s monthly expenses incurred for February was $18,485.05, which included recent repair work on the Quyon water plant.
A resolution was passed to adopt an umbrella borrowing bylaw, 02-21, to decree capital expenditures and a loan of $2,000,000. The main function of the borrowing bylaw was to secure funding for impending repairs on chemin Tremblay and chemin Pontiac. Draper Maxsom was the lone voter against the resolution.
The council also passed a resolution regarding the 2019-2023 TECQ program, which is a provincial government contribution relating to the gas tax. Director General Pierre Said explained that the purpose of passing the resolution was to secure $400,000 that is available through the TECQ program, to pay back what had been paid into several projects.
Said shared that the project of water repair work on rue St. Andrew and rue St. John from the summer of 2020 was submitted, as well as the moving of a water plant compressor.
Miscellenous
The council used the meeting to pass a resolution outlining that municipalities across the MRC des Collines would share responsibilities with regard to the election of a warden by universal suffrage, something that has never taken place in the MRC prior to the upcoming 2021 election season.
The resolution was not a finalized framework for how the electoral process would take place, but was to give “consent to the signing of a memorandum of understanding in principle presented by the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, to agree on the responsibilities and obligations with the municipalities [of the MRC].”
The responsibilities to be shared across the MRC are: the division of tasks, the sharing of certain costs, the organization of voting, the communication plan and the training of electoral staff.
Draper Maxsom questioned whether the resolution was committing to certain forms of voting that were listed as examples in the text, such as mobile voting and postal voting.
“I don’t like the idea of agreeing to something that’s written on paper when we haven’t decided,” she said during the meeting.
Draper Maxsom was the only councillor to vote against the resolution.
Said explained that the resolution was just agreeing to split responsibilities with the other municipalities. Labadie said that nothing was finalized by the MRC, but that the examples listed on the resolution would all be explored going forward.
During the public question period, one resident brought up what she perceived to be the decline in appearance of the municipality. She said that she had gone off to the east coast for roughly 10 years, and came back to the municipality in 2017 to view what she described as a significant decline.
She referenced a 2013 bylaw that mandated the clearance of public nuisances by the municipality.
Labadie thanked her for the question, and she explained that the bylaw is certainly still being enforced.
She added that it is often difficult to enforce the bylaw quickly due to the needs and challenges of some people who are having difficulty maintaining their property. She said that there is a strict legal process that must be followed by the municipal officials who go about reaching out to landowners who are in violation of the bylaw, making it a process that takes a lengthy period of time.
The resolution was not a finalized framework for how the electoral process would take place, but was to give “consent to the signing of a memorandum of understanding in principle presented by the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, to agree on the responsibilities and obligations with the municipalities [of the MRC].”
The responsibilities to be shared across the MRC are: the division of tasks, the sharing of certain costs, the organization of voting, the communication plan and the training of electoral staff.
Draper Maxsom questioned whether the resolution was committing to certain forms of voting that were listed as examples in the text, such as mobile voting and postal voting.
“I don’t like the idea of agreeing to something that’s written on paper when we haven’t decided,” she said during the meeting.
Draper Maxsom was the only councillor to vote against the resolution.
Said explained that the resolution was just agreeing to split responsibilities with the other municipalities. Labadie said that nothing was finalized by the MRC, but that the examples listed on the resolution would all be explored going forward.
During the public question period, one resident brought up what she perceived to be the decline in appearance of the municipality. She said that she had gone off to the east coast for roughly 10 years, and came back to the municipality in 2017 to view what she described as a significant decline.
She referenced a 2013 bylaw that mandated the clearance of public nuisances by the municipality.
Labadie thanked her for the question, and she explained that the bylaw is certainly still being enforced.
She added that it is often difficult to enforce the bylaw quickly due to the needs and challenges of some people who are having difficulty maintaining their property.
She said that there is a strict legal process that must be followed by the municipal officials who go about reaching out to landowners who are in violation of the bylaw, making it a process that takes a lengthy period of time.
