STEPHEN RICCIO
MRC PONTIAC Oct. 21, 2020
The MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors gathered virtually for its monthly meeting on Oct. 21 via Zoom.
Fort Coulonge Mayor Gaston Allard was absent for the third consecutive meeting and pro-Mayor Debbie Laporte was there to fill his shoes. Bryson Mayor Alain Gagnon was absent as well, with no replacement present.
Transportation
During the presentation phase of the meeting, Greg Graham introduced the Driving for Success Program that he is coordinating in collaboration with the West Pontiac Connects, the source of the program’s funding.
The program would provide volunteering opportunities to young people who might need help with paying for driver’s ed. By getting involved with volunteering in their municipalities, youth would build up credits that they could eventually cash in on to help afford their driving education.
“What we’re going to do is that young people from the ages of 12-20 who don’t have [their] driver’s license yet will have the opportunity to volunteer for these different organizations, for their municipalities, for their local charitable clubs, to help seniors in their region,” Graham said. “And what will happen is by doing that volunteerism, they’ll get credits that they can put towards their driver’s license.”
The program is targeting the northwest area of the Pontiac, specifically Sheenboro, Waltham, Chichester and L’Isle aux Allumettes, but Graham added that if the program is a success, he’d be more than willing to approach municipalities in central Pontiac.
“It’s a system to help young people get their driver’s license, [especially] up in that end of the Pontiac,” he said. “It can be very expensive getting your driver’s license with all the requirements you need.”
The targeted beginning for this assistance program is during this winter, Graham said, although he acknowledged the existing and potential challenges of navigating through COVID-19.
“A lot of these groups need young volunteers to make activities happen,” he said. “So we’re trying to help both [youth and groups] at the same time.”
Director General Bernard Roy provided an update on the Transcollines Intercity 148 bus service before putting forth a motion to reaffirm the MRC’s financial contribution to the public transportation service.
Starting in June 2021, the revitalized bus service will be renamed line 910 and will feature significantly lowered costs for users.
“[From anywhere in] the Pontiac will cost $240 a month … So it’s an important reduction of the cost,” he explained.
The current price of monthly passes for MRC Pontiac riders range from $370-$595 depending on the location. According to Roy’s updated pricing information, the $240 price would be set for Pontiac riders regardless of the location.
He also presented a brief rundown of the bus line’s benefits, including the connection of the route to both CEGEP colleges as well as its integration with Gatineau’s STO bus network and Ottawa’s OC Transpo network.
The motion for the MRC to commit funding to the service was approved, meaning $37,369 will be contributed over the 12-month period of Oct. 17, 2020-Oct. 16, 2021.
Ottawa River
At the end of the meeting, Mansfield et Pontefract Mayor Gilles Dionne explained that some residents had relayed to him their concern with the Ottawa River’s high-water levels in their area.
Sheenboro Mayor Doris Ranger voiced a similar concern, while both Rapides des Joachims Mayor Jim Gibson and Portage du Fort Mayor Lynn Cameron reported low levels in their areas.
“It was high like that when we had the flood in 2019,” Dionne said.
Michael Sarich, senior water resources engineer for the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB), said that water levels are slightly higher than average, especially due to rainfall over the past week.
“It’s currently raining quite extensively throughout the northern Abitibi-Témiscamingue region,” Sarich said on Oct. 23. “So they’ve already received 25-30 mm and they’re going to get another 20 so there is a lot of rain happening up north and that means because reservoirs are already full, [the dams are] going to be opening up and releasing water, and have actually started to do so.”
With the combined 30-50 mm of expected rain then flowing down the river, he said that levels in the Pembroke and Fort Coulonge areas could go up by half a metre.
Sarich noted that high fall water levels do not necessarily point to how things will be in the spring.
“People try and draw a correlation or connection between high levels and what happens in the spring,” he said. “But there isn’t a strong link.”
Council approved a last-minute motion to get in contact with the ORRPB to receive a report at an upcoming committee meeting.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Warden Jane Toller closed off the council meeting with a resolution to allow her to join several committees within the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), which was approved.
The MRC Pontiac, and all 18 of its municipalities, are now part of the FCM after recently acquiring membership, which Toller said cost roughly $2,000.
During the post-meeting scrum, she expanded on why membership with the FCM will bring benefits to the MRC.
“We will be able to attend meetings that will [have] people from all the provinces of Canada,” Toller said. “We need to expand our horizons … We need people from other parts of Canada to know about the Pontiac.”
She added that FCM has a $2 billion green fund that can, and already has been, accessed by the MRC.
While Toller has yet to lock down which committees she hopes to sit on, she had some in mind.
“I do hope to be on the sustainability and environment [committee] because I think that will incorporate waste management and energy from waste, which I’m very interested in learning more about, and sort of positioning us in terms of the rest of Canada,” she said. “I would also be interested in anything to do with forestry [and] probably economic development. I want to be able to learn about all the funds that we can access for MRC Pontiac. I’m also very interested in infrastructure funds.”
