CALEB NICKERSON
CAMPBELL’S BAY
May 15, 2019
The mayors of Pontiac met on May 15 at the MRC office in Campbell’s Bay for their annual monthly meeting. There was plenty on the table for discussion, from cycling trials to cannabis bylaws and flood inquiries.
The meeting began with the announcement of Assistant Director General Gabriel Lance’s retirement after nearly a decade with the MRC.
“He’s accomplished many things in the nine and a half years he’s been here,” said Warden Jane Toller. “We’ll miss him very much.”
A large contingent of cycling activists attended the public question period and presented their case for keeping motorized vehicles off of the PPJ trail (see related story).
They were followed up by a presentation from Frances Shea about the Artistes de la Rivière festivities taking place in Portage du Fort on June 1 and 2.
The council voted unanimously to withdraw from the Comité d’Égalité, a regional committee that was supposed to provide training on equal representation of women in the workforce.
“We have so many other important priorities, it is an important issue but the council of mayors decided that this wasn’t a priority at this time,” Toller said following the meeting. She added that the MRC already has plenty of women in leadership positions, both elected and unelected.
MRC engineer Kim Lesage introduced a resolution on changes to the way municipal contracts are awarded.
“Now municipalities are allowed to adopt a bylaw that would allow them to decide how they would tender a contract between $25,000 and $101,000,” Lesage explained in an interview following the meeting. She added that there are provisions to ensure that municipalities who adopt new bylaws are transparent in how they choose to award contracts.
Previously, all municipal contracts over $25,000 automatically went to public tender. Under the new laws, municipalities could pass bylaws increasing the threshold or having procedure vary depending on the type of contract (administration, public works, etc.)
The mayors voted unanimously to support the Bristol Dryland Dog Races with a grant for $3,750 for their 2019 race.
They also unanimously passed several resolutions in regards to the flooding the region, following up on the special meeting they held on May 9. The council requested that the Ministry of Public Security set up a local office in the Pontiac and also provide services and documentation in English.
“Because we’re a bilingual region, it is very important that information be available in English and especially when people are upset and don’t know what to do, to go to a meeting that’s only conducted in French, that’s upsetting,” Toller said after the meeting.
The council also invited Pontiac MNA André Fortin and MP Will Amos to attend the next council meeting on June 18 to discuss the region’s strategy to prevent significant flood damage in the future.
The council supported a motion that was already passed by the Municipality of Mansfield et Pontefract, which requested an independent inquiry into the management of the Ottawa River and the structural integrity of the dams in the Outaouais. They also reached out to officials from neighbouring regions such as Gatineau, Renfrew and Ottawa to better coordinate any future flood mitigation efforts.
“People have a right to live on the river,” Toller said following the meeting. “There have been so many excuses and so much blame of so many different groups. We just want to know why this happened and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We have to stand up and fight for the people who live here.”
The mayors also agreed to begin the process of purchasing and installing a generator at the MRC office, an upgrade that would have been useful at the special meeting on May 9, where the power cut out midway through.
Shawville Pro-Mayor Patti Moffatt brought forward a resolution requesting guidance from the provincial government in regards to bylaws for public cannabis consumption.
“[Moffatt’s] concern was that as we’re approaching the summer, there will be more people outside possibly smoking cannabis,” Toller said. “She brought up a great point, since … the federal government legalized it, we have been cautioned to not come out immediately with a regulation until we know what the provincial government is doing and the SQ is advising us to wait.”
Currently the law treats the public consumption of cannabis relatively the same as tobacco. Smoking is prohibited near the entrances to public buildings and schools, and landlords have the right to prohibit their tenants from smoking. Recently, the province has softened its stance on public consumption in parks, but allows municipalities to set their own rules, which several already have.
Toller said that many of the mayors are in favour of passing a bylaw that would treat cannabis consumption like alcohol consumption and ban it from public spaces.
