CALEB NICKERSON
PONTIAC March 13, 2019
The head of Pontiac’s economic SWAT team is questioning the reason for increasing the frequency of meetings, despite a request from MRC Pontiac’s council.
Jeffrey MacHan, a Director with the Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et des Exportations du Québec (MEIE), and chair of the Groupe tactique d’intervention (GTI) – as the SWAT team is officially known – said he would be speaking with MRC officials in the near future.
“I was informed that there was a resolution requesting another meeting but I’m not aware of the details,” he said when contacted on March 6, referring to a resolution passed at last month’s MRC council meeting, which requested regular, in-person meetings of the entire group.
The GTI was announced back in March 2017, and was the second group of its kind in the province, modelled after a similar group in MRC de Maria-Chapdelaine, a part of Philippe Couillard’s former riding of Roberval.
MacHan explained that the group is divided into subcommittees who, up until December, met or teleconferenced once every two to three weeks. He said that having the entire group physically meet under the same roof would be an inefficient use of resources.
“The work is being accomplished at all times,” he said. “There’s not really much point in convening 30 people to discuss details that are of a private nature.”
He said one of his next objectives is to have a meeting with the MRC’s Economic Development Director, Danielle Newman, who started the job in December. He pointed out that there are a host of activities that the group is currently undertaking.
“Phase one was basically to examine all the local files and make sure that nothing has fallen between the cracks,” he said. “We accomplished that. We also initiated work with Investment Quebec and the MRC concerning prospecting and that’s an ongoing file that the MRC is responsible for.”
MacHan was referring to the MRC’s hiring of CAI Global, a company that is seeking out investors to invest in the region.
“We came up with about 17 projects, several were completed during that first two-year period with the support of the MRC or through SADC, but not necessarily through the taskforce,” he continued. “The taskforce helped accelerate those projects because it became a priority for the different ministries and agencies that were involved.”
He said that phase two would involve continued efforts by the MRC and partner agencies to attract investors and keep abreast of any potential developments.
“Phase two is the prospection, the foreign direct investment initiatives,” he said. “The MRC is working on updating their website and putting together an investor portfolio, which is something that’s necessary moving forward.”
There is no phase three, and MacHan said that phase two will continue in perpetuity, with the taskforce at the ready to expedite any files that the various partners bring to the table.
MacHan said that the provincial elections didn’t affect the performance of the group, and said he has a “green light” from the CAQ to continue the group’s mandate.
