At the Jan. 29 MRC Pontiac council of mayors meeting, council approved $75,515.31 for a MRC territorial marketing strategy for 2026, with 80 per cent of the funding ($60,531.73) coming from FRR component two with the remainder ($14,983.58) covered by the MRC.
MRC economic development officer for tourism Stéphanie Hébert-Potter explained that this budget is strictly for marketing the MRC Pontiac territory.
“This isn’t the only tourism initiative for 2026, it’s strictly territorial marketing,” she said.
She said that the budget was slightly lower than in years past, with roughly 44 per cent going towards marketing materials, such as printed brochures, signage as well as branded clothing. Another 40 per cent is for “media outreach” such as paying for television placements, or influencer campaigns.
“These initiatives are often carried out in partnership with organizations such as Tourisme Outaouais and other partners, including Ottawa Valley Tourism Association, in order to maximize reach and impact,” she wrote in an email. “In some cases, our contribution is primarily in coordination, time, and resources, while in others it includes a modest financial contribution. By way of example, last year we hosted six media tours and in collaboration with our partners, our $10,000 contribution generated approximately $22,000 in media placement exposure.”
The final 16 per cent is for staff to attend various trade shows, to highlight what the Pontiac has to offer to outside audiences. She said that they typically attend around five in both Montreal and Toronto, and were planning on attending one in the Ottawa Valley as well.
“The majority of trade shows take place in late winter and early spring, and we also aim to participate in at least one trade show within the Ottawa Valley region. In addition to these initiatives, we maintain a presence at various local and regional events, such as the Shawville Fair, the Salon de l’entreprise de Fort-Coulonge, and other community-based events.”
TNO budget
Also at the Jan. 29 public meeting, council approved the 2026 budget for the non-organized territories (TNO) of Lac Nilgaut, which is the unincorporated territory that makes up most of the MRC’s land mass. Overall revenue this year is up to $1,008,629, with $908,629 in expenses, plus $100,000 in capital expenditures earmarked to purchase a new truck for their TNO employees. MRC Director of Finance Andrea Lafleur said that the old truck would be sold to be used by PPJ maintenance staff, reflected in the extra $20,000 in the other revenues category.
Lafleur explained during the meeting that the property tax had increased slightly from 65 cents per $100 assessed value to 67 cents.
She added that the MRC has allocated some money in the budget under general administration to hire a part-time employee to work with the regional inspector for land use planning, who she said was planning to retire within a couple years.
“We’re hoping to hire a part-time person to work with Richard Marenger, to obtain a lot of his knowledge in 2026,” she said.
The budget passed unanimously, 17-0, as there was no representative from the Municipality of Waltham present at the meeting.
Regional parks committee created
The council also approved the creation of a regional parks committee, with the goal of supporting the existing PPJ cycling path, as well as investigating other possible park sites in the region. The elected officials named to the committee are Donald Gagnon (Chichester), Joanne Ralston (Bryson) and Jean-Louis Corriveau (l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet).
“The mandate of this committee includes the overall management of the Cycloparc PPJ, assessing the feasibility of a regional park project, creating a strategy for the development of a new regional park if the results of the feasibility assessment are positive, and collaborating with stakeholders and community leaders,” the resolution reads.
While no projects are specifically mentioned in the resolution, it notes the “tourism potential of certain other sites in the region, including the Iles Lafontaine site.”
The Lafontaine Islands (made up of French, Lafontaine and Green) sit in the Ottawa River just west of l’île-du-Grand-Calumet, and the area is quite popular for rafting in the summer time.
The islands have been pitched as the site of a provincial park in the recent past, notably by Joe Kowalski of Ontario rafting company Wilderness Tours in 2018. Kowalski owns a significant chunk of land on both sides of the river in the vicinity of the site.
According to THE EQUITY’s reporting at the time, he pitched adding bridges and trails to connect the two provinces through the island group. The Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq), which oversees parks across the province, refers to their parks as “national parks” in French.
“I truly believe in preserving the integrity of the river corridor,” he said at a 2018 public consultation at the Campbell’s Bay RA on the subject. “I’m a capitalist and a developer, but this is the last wild section on the Ottawa River and it should be kept pristine and that’s exactly what I tried to do these past 30 years, and the national park will take it one step further.”
At the time, an MRC committee was created to look into the feasibility of some kind of tourism development in the area. In 2019, the MRC received grant funding from the ministry of municipal affairs to conduct an assessment of the “historical and cultural importance” of the area and the surrounding area, as well as a prefeasibility study on the creation of a national park at the site.
Though the project was little discussed in the previous term, the new slate of MRC elected officials received a presentation on the subject from Kowalski on Jan. 30.
At last month’s meeting, MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller said keeping the committee’s scope broad would allow the MRC to look into other areas for possible protection.
“I think that we should state that we have a vast territory and there could be interest in parks in other parts of the Pontiac, and of course at that time, we would expand the membership to whoever would be interested,” she said.
