Dear Editor,
There were a couple of articles in THE EQUITY that spurred me to write this letter. The first was an editorial about Pontiac’s race to the bottom. We are running to be the poorest county in Quebec (maybe Canada?). The second was what Jane Toller said about how at one time in the 1800s we were the largest and richest county in Canada.
I live on Highway 148, in Campbell’s Bay and as I sit in my breezeway I watch truck after truck fully loaded with timber heading out of the Pontiac.
I’ve also noticed that there is not one semi with a Pontiac address. There’s a company up around Jim’s Lake with a gigantic feller buncher. One man drives it, approaches the tree, grasps it, cuts it and limbs it. The same semi then comes in and picks it up. I imagine the Quebec Government gets stumpage fees.
The key question here is “what do the Pontiacers get?” Sadly, not a dime.
When the paper mill was closing a politician, who was approached for help, told us “paper is a thing of the past, get used to it.” Tell that to Thurso. The lumber mill in Davidson is closed, the pulp mill is closed, the shingle mill is closed and now I hear Jovalco is in trouble. You would think that the products that those industries produced were no longer marketable. We know that is not so by the truck traffic passing my home. It is still very much in demand.
I agree with Jane Toller, that government inaction has caused this sad situation we find ourselves in. When the pulp mill closed, the owners couldn’t wait to dismantle it and refused to let it be sold as a mill while all levels of government sat on their hands.
Seeing that the Portage mill received numerous tax breaks over the years we should have at least made an effort to prevent this. They should have done what they did when they decided to tear up the railway track. Many politicians told me there wasn’t a chance that we would win in court. One thing for sure, we’ll never know now because we didn’t even bother to try.
I’ve learned over the years I haven’t seen many politicians interested in the Pontiac except for ribbon cutting (showing their ivories) for a photo-op. Six months later the venture goes bankrupt or goes south with our tax money. These politicians work hard for votes but there aren’t enough votes here, so when the goodies are handed out we are left hungry. They’re more interested in getting re-elected than they are in us. That’s a cold hard fact.
That’s why electing someone who only has our best wishes front and centre is so crucial.
There is an old adage that says doing the same thing over and over to solve the same problem is actually the definition of insanity. The new warden will be our best chance to climb out of a poverty gulch. Same old, same old is not working!
Lou Stafford
Campbell’s Bay, Que.
