In addition to the regular passing of resolutions by the Council of Mayors, Pontiac MNA André Fortin was present at the meeting and was given the opportunity to address the mayors.

Fortin said the purpose of his talk was to . . .

give an update to the MRC’s mayors on the development of issues on a provincial level relevant to the region.

He started by describing his participation in the first sitting of the Outaouais regional assembly, which is an Outaouais-wide forum for wardens, mayors and non-governmental organizations across the region to coordinate and help each other with their economic development projects.

The second thing he discussed, which he prefaced as something going well, was the installation of high speed internet across the Pontiac by the telecommunications company Xplornet.

Fortin said that while the deadline for Xplornet to complete the base of fibre infrastructure in the region was September 30, he had heard from executives that they expected it to be finished by early August, after which homes could start being connected.

During Fortin’s remarks on the fibre installation, the mayor of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Corey Spence, asked why certain areas of his municipality weren’t covered by high speed internet access in the maps published by Xplornet. Fortin responded that he would personally look into it to see if the covered area could match what was originally requested by the municipality.

The third issue he brought up was the status of the obstetrics units at the Pontiac Hospital. He explained that as now the general care unit, which obstetrics would be part of, currently has 17 per cent of their required staff.

“As of today, they can’t open obstetrics under those conditions,” said Fortin. “It’s unlikely in the very short term that we will see it reopen.”

“They do want it to open and they are working toward it, ‘’ said Fortin about CISSSO’s commitment to reopen the service. He encouraged the mayors and community to not drop the issue.

“I think if we keep up the issue long enough to pressure the government we will have to bring back the service,” added Fortin. “I’ll definitely need your help on this one.”

The fourth issue Fortin brought up during his talk was the lack of housing.

“I haven’t been to a meeting in the Pontiac recently where someone didn’t mention housing,” he said.

He also mentioned that this issue is not something he heard much about as little as two years ago, but presently the issue has become far more prominent.

Fortin said an issue at the provincial level was that housing programs were not tailored for rural areas. He suggested the mayors pass resolutions on housing that request that the provincial government adapt their housing programs to fit local conditions.

He then looped those remarks into the larger issue of increasing unaffordability of staple items. He stated the cost of gas, groceries, hydro and housing are all going up, which is putting increasing pressure on families.

Fortin was critical of the government’s use of short-term cash payments like the $500 recently sent to adults who make under $100,000 and instead said that structural reforms were needed to start bringing down the price of essential goods.

The final topic he touched on was Bill 96. ( READ Passage of Bill 96 imminent.)

After Fortin’s remarks the council returned the regular passing of resolutions.

The Economy

One resolution of note was one concerning the adoption of the Vitalization Framework which is a plan that lays out the broad areas where $4.9 million the MRC received from the provincial government will be spent.

Vitalization in this context is essentially another word for economic development.

The document outlining the plan of the Vitalization Framework is titled: Regions and Rurality Fund 2020-2025 Stream 4 – Support for Vitalization opens with a paragraph stating: “The MRC Pontiac, located in the western part of the Outaouais, is facing important territorial challenges: an aging population, loss of local services, one of the lowest median incomes in Quebec and low economic diversification since the 2008 forestry crisis.”

The document then goes on to explain the component parts of the Regions and Rurality Fund, which was a part of agreement between the provincial government and the municipalities of Quebec passed into law by Bill 47 in December 2019. Component four of the fund, which is what this Vitalization Framework is concerned with addressing, calls for government support for “vitalization” through intermunicipal cooperation.

In this spirit, the Vitalization Framework was established by the Vitalization Committee, an advisory body within the MRC and is made up of the warden, 11 mayors, a representative of Carrefour jeunesse-emploi du Pontiac and a citizen representative. The committee is chaired by Mayor of Campbell’s Bay Maurice Beauregard.

The document stated that in order to reverse the “devitalization” of the Pontiac, governments should focus their investments and efforts in the following sectors: Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Agriculture, Socio-community, Environment and Forestry. All of these areas are further subdivided into more niche areas.

The Vitalization Framework then called for future projects on three priority areas. The first is titled: Population retention and attraction of new residents; which calls for efforts to both attract skilled labour to the Pontiac and retain the region’s youth. The second is titled: A cohesive renaissance of the territory; which focuses on the development of industries and recreational services in the territory. The third is titled: Transportation development; which calls for greater public transportation and building up of the existing transportation infrastructure.

The document states that municipalities, cooperatives, non-profit organizations, aboriginal band councils and private enterprises can all submit funding request plans under those areas to the MRC. The $4.9 million needs to be given out by the MRC by 2025.

The vitalization document explains the conditions under which organizations can secure funding and will soon be available on the MRC’s website.

Warden Jane Toller lauded the plan after the meeting.

“Premier Legault was elected because of support from rural communities in Quebec, ‘’ said Toller. “He understands that to raise the standard of living in this province, we need to go to the devitalised communities. We are one of those and I think it is wonderful that MRC Pontiac is going to have the opportunity to be in the driver’s seat to decide how almost $5 million will be spent by 2025. It is going to create jobs and it is going to bring a lot of investment here.”

Before the passing of the resolution Toller hailed the outgoing head of economic development at the MRC, Cydney Phillips, as the architect of the plan.

The Council of Mayors also passed various other resolutions related to the current economic state of the Pontiac.

One resolution passed was a bylaw to subsidize the travel expenses of MRC mayors and employees. The new bylaw states that MRC employees and council members can submit receipts to be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred while performing duties related to the MRC.

Another resolution passed was a motion of support for an open letter from the mayor of Nicolet, Quebec, requesting the provincial government expand the ability of municipalities to raise revenue in order pursue policies aimed at environmental protection.

“Municipalities are very dependent on one main source of revenue- taxes on property- this impacts their capacity for innovation and their capability to develop,” said Bernard Roy, director general of the MRC. “This resolution is requesting the government start real work for in depth revision of municipal taxation in order to allow municipalities to meet their obligations under a stable, predictable and sustainable condition.”

The next notable resolution to pass was an Action Plan to Develop Welcoming Communities and Foster Agricultural Immigration in the MRCs of the Outaouais. The resolution explained that various bodies within the Outaouais are looking to attract immigrants and refugees to the region, particularly for the agricultural sector.

Clarendon and Shawville were identified as the key area for this action plan.

“The goals and objectives of this plan is to put in place the tools, resources and people necessary to make Clarendon and Shawville a welcoming community to immigrants with a specific focus on the agricultural sector, ‘’ said Phillips.

“This is fantastic that we’re doing this in the Pontiac because agriculture is one of those skills that can be translated and be used in every country without training,” said Toller about the action plan.

The Council of Mayors also passed a resolution requesting financial assistance programs to help offset the cost of inflation which is effecting the municipalities’ ability to adequately maintain their infrastructure and provide services.

“We would like to ask the government of Canada and Quebec to improve the annual financial aid to municipalities,” said Kim Lesage, director of engineering and infrastructure at the MRC who presented the resolution.

Public safety

Various resolutions were also passed concerning public safety.

A resolution was passed to authorise the director general of the MRC to sign an agreement with Bell Canada that would introduce the next generation of 9-1-1 services to the MRC. Julien Gagnon, public safety coordinator at the MRC explained that they were mandated by the CRTC to plan for the introduction of 9-1-1 service using internet protocols. By June 30, 2023, all 9-1-1 service centres must migrate to this new internet-based system.

Two resolutions of support for requests of other MRCs in Quebec asking for increased financial aid for the training of firefighters were also passed.

Other

Warden Toller announced the completion of another petition. She stated that 1088 people signed the petition to expand cellular service in the Pontiac, which will be presented by MP Sophie Chatel in the House of Commons. L’Isle-aux-allumettes had the largest number of signatories with 192 names.

Amy Taylor, a member of the public from Chichester, took the opportunity of the public question period during the meeting to inquire about practices at the MRC related closed plenaries and unanswered emails she sent to unspecified municipal officials. Toller responded to the question that the Council of Mayors was in the process of discussing opening up the plenary meetings, and that livestreaming the plenaries on Facebook live improved transparency at the MRC level.

Toller didn’t have an exact answer on when a citizen should expect a response from municipal officials but encouraged Taylor to attend her home municipality’s meeting so she could ask questions directly to her representatives.

After the meeting Toller said regarding the potential opening of plenary meetings that, while she didn’t raise the issue with the mayors during the last plenary, she didn’t see agenda items that should remain confidential.

You can watch the entire playback of last week’s meeting on the MRC’s Pontiac’s Facebook page.

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