STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Feb. 3, 2021
The MRC Pontiac held a special meeting on Feb. 3 to discuss and vote on a forestry resolution, table the CN Rail bylaw and overview the 2020 PPJ report.
The meeting was hosted on Zoom, while being streamed live to Facebook, and was attended by Warden Jane Toller and all of the mayors, with the exception of L’Île du Grand Calumet Mayor Serge Newberry who was replaced by pro-mayor Alice Meilleur Pieschke.
Forestry resolution
A resolution that was initially brought to the council on Jan. 20 by Bristol Mayor Brent Orr, and subsequently amended by council before being vetoed by Toller several days later, was the focus of intense discussion during the meeting, with the council at times speaking over each other.
The motion was ultimately voted on after an explanation from L’Isle aux Allumettes Mayor Winston Sunstrum on what a biopark at the Pontiac Regional Industrial Park would consist of, with it being voted against narrowly with the help of Toller who split the tie.
A biopark is a collection of forestry businesses that use plant material to create fuel and produce electricity and heat, which is called biomass. The park would be anchored to a biorefinery; the American-based company Renmatix has expressed interest in building one that would cost $100 million.
Many of the mayors who voted in favour of the resolution voiced the view that the ongoing effort to establish a biopark (see resolution image) should not be given up on. The mayors who voted against it agreed that they were troubled specifically by the resolution’s use of the words “firmly support”, suggesting that it could require the MRC to contribute money down the road.
The result of the vote itself was heavily discussed, as Pieschke’s presence caused Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivière to question whether she had been given official status and permission to vote for her municipality in the form of a municipal resolution. The meeting ended with no closure on that issue, with Larivière and several other mayors pointing out that Toller would not be allowed to vote if no resolution had been passed, meaning the biopark resolution would have passed. MRC staff said that they would look into the issue to see if a municipal resolution had been sent by L’Île du Grand Calumet.
MRC communications officer Colleen Jones ultimately notified THE EQUITY on Feb. 5 that Director General Bernard Roy had identified the municipal resolution in MRC records, as it had been adopted in April 2020.
“We have not otherwise identified any element in the law, jurisprudence, or in the policies and practices of the MRC Pontiac, which authorizes us to withdraw the rights and privileges of a duly appointed acting mayor who acts in replacement of the mayor, notably during a vote of the regional council of the MRC,” the statement read. “Consequently, the vote on the proposal of support for the bio-park project at the special council sitting held on February 3, 2021 includes the vote of the acting mayor of Île du Grand Calumet. The final result was nine votes in favour and nine against. The resolution was therefore defeated.”
Those who voted in favour of the resolution were: Orr, Bryson Mayor Alain Gagnon, Campbell’s Bay Mayor Maurice Beauregard, Clarendon Mayor John Armstrong, Chichester Mayor Donnie Gagnon, Sunstrum, Larivière, Sheenboro Mayor Doris Ranger and Shawville Mayor Sandra Murray.
Meanwhile, those against it were: Alleyn et Cawood Mayor Carl Mayer, Fort Coulonge Mayor Debbie Laporte, Mansfield et Pontefract Mayor Gilles Dionne, Otter Lake Mayor Kim-Cartier Villeneuve, Portage du Fort Lynne Cameron, Rapides des Joachims Mayor Jim Gibson, Thorne Mayor Karen Daly-Kelly, Waltham Mayor David Rochon, Pieschke and Toller (the warden’s vote may only be used to split a tie).
Speaking after the meeting, Sunstrum said that he was glad to see several of the mayors who voted against the resolution say they supported the project. He added that he is unsure of where six mayors stand, but is confident that at least 12 are in favour of the project.
“What we’re trying to figure out is whether the mayors support the project and firmly support or support, there’s not much difference in the terms there,” he said.
“All of the indiciations so far in the feasibility studies are that it is scientifically sound, it looks like it’s going to be economically sound, and it looks like it’s going to be environmentally sound,” Sunstrum continued. “So we’re on a good track and we don’t want to lose the National Research Council or CanmetENERGY. In my opinion we certainly want them to finish the [feasibility study] process they’re going through, and there’s nothing detrimental to the MRC.”
He said that if the project were to become more viable down the road, the MRC could look into the question of financial contributions then. He maintained that the use of the words “firmly support” was not a way to sneakily affirm financial support.
Gibson, who has been the Rapides des Joachims mayor since 2009 and was present on the council when the initiative to create a biopark in Litchfield began, said that he is certainly in support of the project.
“First of all let me say that none of my colleagues and myself that voted against it last night are against the project itself,” he said.
However, he explained that they were concerned that the wording left too much room for interpretation. He said that if Renmatix, which has been touted as the centerpiece of the biopark, were to solidify their commitment, then perhaps there could be a conversation about contributing further financial assistance.
“We want to see more of an interest from the company itself, to know that they’re going to be committed,” Gibson added. “There’s no commitment from them right now.”
He said that if a future amendment was made to ensure that the mayors supporting the project were not committing to financial assistance, then he would be willing to support it.
“It’s still a project coming to the Pontiac and we’re in favour of that.”
CN Rail bylaw
Bylaw 269-2021 – which would officially grant access to the CN rail bed to snowmobiles and ATVs through the provincial Act respecting off-highway vehicles – was tabled and passed by majority during the meeting, after Armstrong and Orr requested that it not be tabled during the Jan. 20 meeting.
Both mayors had said that a follow-up meeting with Pontiac Snowmobile Drivers Association (PSDA) President Alain Goulet was needed to sort out usage of the trail in the Bristol comty of Pontiac Station. After having that meeting and discovering that the PSDA are awaiting approval from two landowners to construct a bypass trail — so as to avoid going directly through the community — both mayors and Daly-Kelly voted against the bylaw, while no other mayors voiced an objection during the vote.
Armstrong and Orr both said that they had to vote against the bylaw until the bypass issue was sorted out to affirm support for Pontiac Station.
In an interview with THE EQUITY, Goulet said that the whole point of the bylaw is to have an option in case the two landowners do not grant bypass permission. Once the bylaw is passed, it would no longer require that the trail be arranged to stay 100 metres away from nearby houses.
“If we get permission from these two landownwers, we don’t need this designation,” he explained. “If the council wants us to have permission from these two landowners before designating it as an offroads corridor, then we might as well close the file altogether.”
He added that the bridge near Fitzroy Harbour, which is the main reason the PSDA wants to travel through Pontiac Station, cost them roughly $500,000 to refurbish and that an investment of that size means they need to find a way to get there, whether it be through the rail bed itself or through a bypass.
Goulet maintained that the club’s ideal scenario for the trail is staying at least 100 metres from any houses in the community.
As the bylaw was ultimately passed, the CN rail bed is now an officially designated off-road vehicle trail, in a similar nature to the designation of the PPJ trail during the winter months.
