In a scrum with the media after the special meeting of the Council of Mayors, Toller spoke on the recent controversy stirred up after she made a Facebook post announcing that she was planning on starting a petition to ban “raves” from the Pontiac following the Groove and Bass EDM (electronic dance music) festival held outside of Bryson last week.

After receiving over 200 comments, most of which disagreed with banning the festival, Toller stated she now hoped to . . .

introduce a noise bylaw to reduce the impact on permanent residences of the area.

“I’ve had experience with raves in the city of Toronto, and my concern was that anything goes in the Pontiac right now. We have no noise bylaws,” said Toller. “We have no protection for neighbors who are unable to sleep because they hear noise.”

Toller said that comparisons of the Groove and Bass Festival to the Shawville Fair and the Fort-Coulonge Country Music Festival are not fair as those events are not 24 hours. She also noted that the Shawville Fair and the Fort-Coulonge Country Music Festival were organized by locals, meaning that the proceeds from them get spread in the Pontiac a lot more.

She said that while other MRCs in Quebec had successfully banned raves, she said her position now is to “have a harmonized noise bylaw for the whole Pontiac, not one different one in each of the 18 municipalities.”

“We’re going to have more and more calls for these events and I think that we need to think about maximizing the opportunity for the Pontiac bringing lots of people here making it an exciting place. However, we can’t forget that there are taxpayers who aren’t participating in this and who can’t sleep at night,” said Toller.

Ideas for a bylaw such as stopping noise after 12 a.m., limiting the decibels of the music played the event, having a larger diversity of music being played and requiring the event to pay for overtime of police officers that may be required to work overtime at events like this are all things Toller would be looking at.

“The reason I reacted the way I did is because I am fiercely protective of the Pontiac,” said Toller. “I’m not narrow minded, but I really have a concern when I see big city operators who can no longer hold these events in cities because there are so many bylaws in place. They come to the country and they think that they can do whatever they like.”

Toller hopes the Council of Mayors will agree to implement a bylaw that will address her concerns.

“I know I am a 68-year-old woman but I like to be an open-minded person. I also am hugely in favour of anything that will benefit tourism and economic development in the Pontiac,” said Toller. “What I’m not in favour of is an organization, no matter how reputable they are, coming and bringing in up to $900,000 without that money being spread around; other than a couple of businesses that apparently did very well on the weekend.”

“If the organizers find there are too many rules and regulations, then they will maybe feel they have to go somewhere else. And that will be their choice, but I don’t want ever to see the Pontiac taken advantage of,” said Toller.

When asked whether she would be open to working with the organizers of the Groove and Bass, Toller said: “I don’t think it’s my business to tell them what kind of event they need to have. I’m only concerned about one thing and that is noise 24 hours a day. I hope that they will be able to still find a way to have a successful event that will end at a certain time.”

At the scrum Toller also spoke on her efforts to convince residents that move here from Ontario to commit to Pontiac by changing their health cards and licenses.

“When people are keeping one foot in Ontario and one foot in Quebec it is not allowing us to receive the funding that we need to receive for school boards and municipalities,” said Toller.

“I think people think that the taxes are higher in Quebec or they think the healthcare isn’t as good in Quebec,” said Toller. “But the way that healthcare is going to get better is when we have more people that are actually paying into the system.”

When asked whether she is concerned that Bill 96 will dampen the enthusiasm of Ontarians wanting to move here, Toller said: “I’m not concerned about Bill 96. I’m not as concerned because I’ve been reassured by the government that we will keep our bilingual status.”

Toller said she is working with other bilingual MRCs and talking with the CAQ government to underline the importance that an English-speaking population will have for attracting international investment.

For healthcare, Toller said she is still able to go see specialists in Ontario with her Quebec health card and said that healthcare concerns shouldn’t prompt people to pose as Ontario residents while they live here 12 months of the year.

“I just feel that you can’t just be here to reap the benefits and not stand up to be counted,” concluded Toller.

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