CALEB NICKERSON
FORT COULONGE
Aug. 24, 2018
On Friday morning, proponents of the Pontiac pool project gathered outside the Draveurs Leisure Centre in Fort Coulonge to mark the official launch of their support campaign.
Pontiac Warden Jane Toller, who is also the volunteer president of the non-profit group Piscine Pontiac Pool, led the proceedings alongside public officials and children from a local daycare who were dressed up with goggles and lifejackets.
“Today we are launching our public campaign for support for this aqua centre,” Toller said. “There have been at least three attempts in the past, in the Pontiac, to build a swimming pool but each time it was stopped, either through a disagreement of location or a fear of risk.”
“If we don’t move forward and take a risk, we will always remain one of the poorest regions in the Pontiac,” she continued.
The group aims to construct a $12 million pool facility in Fort Coulonge, right next to the where the arena currently stands. The plans for the building, which were available at the press conference, include a four-lane lap pool, a heated therapy pool, and a hot tub that can fit 15 people. There will be men’s, women’s and family change rooms, as well as a room for hosting events and meetings.
In addition, the arena’s parking lot will be paved and an additional 50 spaces will be added next to the pool. Toller said that she chose Fort Coulonge because the town is economically depressed and also central in the MRC.
Toller stressed that no funds would come out of municipal shares, but said the non-profit would be applying for federal, provincial and MRC grants.
“Anyone who wants to be negative and says, ‘We can’t afford it. It’s going to be a burden on our municipal shares.’ It’s no longer an MRC pool, it’s a not-for profit pool, and that’s the only way it’s going to move forward,” she said.
Toller had the support of the previous council of mayors when she first brought the project forward in June 2017, prior to her run for Pontiac Warden. The non-profit group, made up of Toller and several other officials and citizens from around the region, was officially formed earlier this month.
At the conference, Toller presented Fort Coulonge Mayor Gaston Allard with a cheque for one dollar, to purchase the land for the facility from the municipality.
Toller said that they would need to apply for grants before October and would likely find out the results by December of this year.
“I’m told by our federal and provincial members that if we apply now, the answer will probably come in December because of the provincial election,” she said. “We also have a list of 25 corporations that we will be approaching for donations and they will become corporate partners.”
Toller said that their goal now was to get over 5,000 signatures from Pontiac residents on a petition of support for the project, and said that forms would be available in all 18 municipalities.
To finish off the event, Toller and some members of the committee took part in a little dry-land aquafit routine, led by committee member and Shawville resident Julia Clarke.
