STEPHEN RICCIO
CAMPBELL’S BAY Sept. 16, 2020
MRC Pontiac’s Regional Council of Mayors gathered for its monthly meeting on Sept. 16, meeting in-person at Campbell’s Bay RA Hall.
Île du Grand Calumet Mayor Serge Newberry was absent from the meeting due to the birth of his child, and pro-Mayor Alice Meilleur Pieschke filled in for him. Fort Coulonge Mayor Gaston Allard was absent as well, and he was represented by pro-Mayor Debbie Laporte.
Warden Jane Toller used the beginning of the meeting to remind the mayors that residents need to stay vigilant with regards to COVID-19, and she said that the recent surge of cases in other areas of the province and Ontario mean that the second wave has begun.
The meeting had several members of the media present as well as MRC staff, along with one resident who presented an update on the success of placing historical plaques around Portage du Fort.
Nursing pilot pay
With CISSSO, the Outaouais health authority, recently revising their re-open target of Sept. 2020 for the Pontiac Community Hospital (PCH) obstetrics unit, Toller brought forth a resolution proposing that the Government of Quebec create a one-year pilot to match nursing salaries of those in Ontario.
The resolution received unanimous support from the 18 mayors, and Toller said she would bring the proposal to the Outaouais warden’s meeting, known as the CPO, on Sept. 21 to get CAQ’s Outaouais Minister Mathieu Lacombe on board.
She pointed out that due to the impact of nurse salary discrepancy on the entire Outaouais, the policy would benefit more areas than just the Pontiac.
Speaking during the scrum following the meeting, Toller expanded on the details.
“The pilot [would] work this way: starting Jan. 1, the salary will be equal to Ontario for any first-year nurses,” she explained.
“The biggest difference is in the first year from what I understand. I think pilots can be very effective, they’re a great way to get your foot in the door and keep going.”
Archeological survey
Later in the meeting, Toller brought forth a resolution that was passed to show verbal support for the archeological survey that will be performed in Davidson beginning on Sept. 27.
“It was a statement of support that we feel fortunate that someone would come from the outside to do this,” she said during the scrum.
She added that she would be in favour of an interactive visitor’s centre where artifacts, maps and historical information would be shown to promote tourism.
New COVID-19 recovery
grant program
Cyndy Phillips, MRC director of economic development, brought a resolution to council that would allow for a grant program to be administered to help small businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic so far.
The program would take the $70,000 that the MRC had put aside from their provincial FRR fund to deliver grants up to $5,000 to eligible businesses.
Businesses that apply must clearly show how they were negatively impacted by the pandemic. They must also show how the funds will help the business adapt through this unique time.
Applications will be due by Oct. 23, and there has been an analysis committee made to approve the grants. Those interested in applying for the grant should go to the MRC’s website for more information.
Following the passing of the resolution, Shawville Mayor Sandra Murray raised the question of whether financial aid might come to the municipalities in the Pontiac.
Murray noted that Shawville has spent a lot of money to adapt with health guidelines. Toller agreed that municipalities need help, and she said she would bring it up during the CPO meeting as that aid would need to come from the province.
Residential waste
Toller also brought forth a resolution for the provincial government to consider allowing the transit of residential waste from Ontario to Quebec.
The proposal, which must be run by the Environment Minister Benoit Charette, would increase the amount of waste that could be brought to the Energy from Waste project that Toller is hopeful for.
Having already met with an advisor to the minster, Toller said she learned that the province has a “hard and fast rule that for landfill, Ontario waste cannot come.”
“My point to her was that with a new energy from waste technology, the garbage won’t be staying here,” she said after the meeting. “It will be transformed into electricity and steam. So what we need to do as a CPO is make that request.”
If the technology were to come to the Pontiac, there would only be roughly 80,000 tonnes brought to it from around the Outaouais. According to Toller’s ideal situation, Ottawa and other Ontario municipalities would be able to bring their residential waste across the border and bump that number up closer to 400,000 tonnes.
Campbell’s Bay Mayor Maurice Beauregard added a last-minute resolution to the agenda before the meeting, with the topic being the SHQ.
He suggested that himself, Director General Bernard Roy and the HR committee have a meeting to further progress on the current debacle around Basil Belland, a 75 year-old Campbell’s Bay man.
Belland, who uses a wheelchair because of a stroke he suffered, had been getting assistance from the SHQ to build an accessibility ramp at his house.
The building of the ramp was stopped after the municipality found that there was no permit for it. Belland is now living at St. Joseph’s Manor and has experienced great distress because of the confusion.
Beauregard had raised two resolutions at the August council meeting to investigate Belland’s situation as well as hold an inquiry into all the SHQ’s work in the Pontiac over the last two years.
His resolution at Wednesday’s meeting was because he has heard nothing on both fronts.
“I have no answers for those resolutions,” he said after the meeting. “The only reason I’m asking tonight to meet with Bernard [Roy] and [the] HR committee is so we can push it and see what’s happening because I feel it’s neglected and we’re not doing anything [over] the last couple months.”
Beauregard said he finally received an email from Roy on Sept. 16 informing him that the SHQ will not communicate with elected officials and instead only the director general.
The resolution was passed and shortly afterwards, the meeting was completed.
