Brett Thoms
Campbell’s Bay August 17, 2022
The MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors held their monthly public meeting last Wednesday in the MRC building in Campbell’s Bay.
Starting with the TNO meeting, three resolutions were passed to facilitate resorts on Brock Lake in the north of the county.
The TNO meeting then became the regular Council of Mayor’s meeting and started off with a question from Clarendon mayor Ed Walsh concerning whether municipalities should pass resolutions projecting the use of English in their jurisdictions.
Toller advised that every municipality in the Pontiac pass a . . .
resolution that states they protecting both official languages if they had not done so last fall. Though technically this isn’t necessary for municipalities with a population of over 50 per cent English speakers.
A presentation was held requesting that mayors publicize the 2022 Terry Fox run in Shawville.
John Petty and Rick Valin were present to overview the 41st year the PHS will host a Terry Fox run. The fundraiser will be held on September 19 at 2p.m., and allow participants to run up 10 kilometres
A barbeque for the Terry Fox run will be held in the ValueMart parking lot in Shawville on September 9.
“One of the things Rick and I have really worked on in the last 20 years is to bridge the gap between kids today and Terry Fox’s generation,” said Petty.
Though then he added that the current students at PHS are contributing a lot to Terry Fox events every year, making that job easier.
“We’re all here to make the Pontiac a better place, we’re all here to make some change and have some impact, ‘’ said Petty during his remarks. “I look at what’s happening in the Pontiac, I look at the projects that are being promoted and I just love the energy, the passion, the vision, the commitment that you guys and ladies in this room have, ‘’ said Petty about the MRC council.
Going into the meeting, the Council of Mayors passed a variety of resolutions.
The MRC passed a program to renew the RenoRegion program, which allows people with low incomes to receive a subsidy of up to $25,000 to renovate their homes. The maximum value of eligible homes is $150,000.
Two resolutions were passed in support of the TransporAction Pontiac, which is the public transportation service in the region. The first resolution set aside $11,800 to subsidize paratransit. The second resolution brokedown how TranspoAction Pontiac is expected to be financed in 2022. In the resolution it was stated that the MRC is expected to pay $25,000, users were expected to bring in $25,000 and the Transportation Ministry of Quebec would pay $100,000. The resolution also committed to reinvest any surplus funding from TransporAction into expanding public transit in the region.
A resolution was passed that authorized the director general of the MRC Pontiac to sign an agreement with the provincial government to improve the number of affordable housing units under the “sustainable development strategy.” This agreement also aims at attracting necessary labour to the Pontiac.
On the environment, two separate resolutions adopted a conservation strategy for wetlands and another adopted a sustainable forest management strategy.
Finally a resolution was passed to request that Hydro Quebec offer a province-wide lower rate for electricity bills of ice rinks.
Warden Toller presented this resolution as a way to offset the high costs of maintenance of the three arenas in the Pontiac.
The entire meeting is available to watch on the MRC Pontiac’s Facebook page.
