A motion to explore the possibility of joining the MRC Pontiac received unanimous support at the regular meeting of the Council of the Municipality of Pontiac (MoP) on Feb. 8.

The resolution provides for a presentation to council by the lawyer who was involved in the successful bid by . . .

the Municipality of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette to leave MRC des Collines and join another MRC.

“I think councillors themselves are open to making the switch, if everything would make sense,” MoP mayor Roger Larose told THE EQUITY on Monday.

“But, at the end, we’re going to have to find out a lot before we can say we’re going to move to MRC Pontiac,” said Larose, explaining why a lawyer who has been through the process – Rino Soucy of the law firm DHC Avocats – will brief the MoP council, probably next week.

“For now, what he’s going to advise us on is what we got to do if we want to change, how much it’s going to cost, and what our chances are going to be,” said Larose.

MRC Pontiac warden Toller supports initiative

“I applaud them for at least finding out what’s involved, and contacting the same lawyer,” said MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller.

“I feel we have a lot in common with that part of des Collines,” she said in a phone conversation with THE EQUITY.

“And through the pandemic, when they closed the borders, even closed Hwy 148, we quickly discovered how dependent Quyon, in particular, was on Shawville, and we removed that so they could come and do their groceries, et cetera,” she said.

While MoP councillor Caryl McCann is looking forward to learning more about the impact that changing MRCs could have on her municipality, as a parent she also sees the experience of the pandemic as pointing out some of the benefits of joining MRC Pontiac.

“During the pandemic, provincial regulations were different in the MRC Pontiac, compared with des Collines. A large portion of our residents have their doctors, dentists, accountants, schools, churches, shopping, etc., in the MRC Pontiac, but we couldn’t go there without showing proof that it was essential.”

“Our kids could go to school there all week but we couldn’t go for groceries on the weekend. Case counts were relatively low in the MoP, but we followed the same zone restrictions as in the city where cases were higher. It caused confusion and misinformation to be passed around. Many people could not understand,” said the councillor in a telephone interview with THE EQUITY.

Warden Toller recalls the question of changing MRCs coming up during last year’s MoP election.

“I had actually been contacted by one of the mayoralty candidates, Mr. [Eddie] McCann, asking me what I thought, because he ran on this platform. But it would appear that Roger Larose is also in favour of it, and it was a unanimous vote by their council,” she said.

“I think we would take good care of the Municipality of Pontiac, and I think that it would also be an economic benefit for us.” said the warden.

“I am definitely in favour of looking at this,” she said, adding that she is planning to discuss it with the mayors at the MRC Pontiac plenary meeting this week.

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