cALEB NICKERSON
CAMPBELL’S BAY
Sept. 18, 2019
The MRC Pontiac council of mayors monthly meeting on Wednesday featured discussions of major road funding . . .
drying up, promotional expenditures for the PPJ trail and one mayor speaking his mind during the public question period.
The evening opened with the meeting of the non-organized territories (TNO), in which council accepted the request of the Association des résidents des lacs Coulton, Bertrand et Wright, who asked for funds to fix their access road at the meeting in August. They allocated up to $10,000 for the project and also approved up to $50,000 for the rehabilitation of Schyan Road.
After the opening resolutions acknowledging that participants can speak and be spoken to in their language of choice and Warden Jane Toller’s report on her activities since the last meeting, the floor was opened to public questions.
One attendee questioned what came out of Toller’s meeting with a representative from Vélo Quebec, particularly in regards to the newly established PPJ multi-use committee. Committee member and Fort Coulonge Mayor Gaston Allard responded that they met “too early” and both entities would have to come back with more information before discussions moved forward. The multi-use committee is looking into the feasibility of opening a section of the PPJ trail to motorized vehicles.
Newberry speaks out
In an unorthodox move, Calumet Island Mayor Serge Newberry put forth a question to the council during the public question period. Speaking in French, he reiterated his request for council to adopt a new policy governing the creation and mandate of committees, a move he said would improve transparency. He has also been vocal in requesting that the MRC make the members of each of its committees public.
Toller responded in halting French that it wasn’t the proper time to discuss the issue and then went on the offensive.
“I have a question for you in English, have you signed your confidentiality agreement yet, your oath of confidentiality?” she asked. “All the other mayors have signed it and you left the room.”
Newberry responded that he had the agreement signed, and asked for an apology from the Warden for accusations she made during an in-camera session of the previous meeting. Speaking to The Equity on Sept. 20, he said that Toller had accused him of not respecting his non-disclosure agreement, which he denied, calling it “serious accusations”.
He added that he had confirmed with county clerk Travis Ladouceur that he could use the public question period as a mayor, and said that since the other mayors refuse to back his motion, this is another way to put his request in the public record.
He said that other MRCs are more open about the members of their committees, and how councils determine their scope and mandate.
MRC engineer Kim Lesage gave a report on work completed on the PPJ trail. She said that the MRC still hadn’t received the provincial half of the funding for the trail, and only had $25,000 of the MRC’s annual contribution of $150,000. She said that with winter approaching, she is hoping the funds arrive in time to contract out the resurfacing of the trail, but if not, she would use the remaining funds to replace two culverts. Mayor Colleen Larivière said that the Route Verte funding has occasionally been delayed in the past. “It’s not the first time,” she said.
Lesage also introduced a resolution decrying the lack of funding for local roads through the Ministry of Transport’s Plan d’Intervention en Infrastructures Routières Locales (PIIRL) program. She said that the municipalities had gone through with the planning work for the
“Now that we’re ready to apply, we find out that there are no funds left,” she said. “None of our municipalities have gotten a penny from the intervention fund, but they asked us to do the intervention plan.”
Speaking to media after the meeting, Toller attributed scrapping of the program to the new provincial government.
“There was this package amount approved and just because there was a change in government, they can’t just cut, they have to honour the funding that was approved,” she said. “We’re not taking no for an answer.”
Economic development
MRC Economic development coordinator Danielle Newman announced to the mayors that the call for projects for the Territory Development Fund (FDT), which is open to non-profit organizations, municipalities and co-operatives. The deadline to apply is October 31, but applicants must meet with a member of the economic development department before October 24.
Following up on a request from the public at the previous meeting, she gave an estimate of the MRC’s promotional budget for the PPJ trail for this year and last. In 2018, they spent approximately $13,690 on various promotional activities, including $4,100 for three trade shows and exhibitions, $3,500 for their new map and $2,474 for bus advertising.
This year they estimate the MRC has spent approximately $10,800, with $3,300 going to trade shows and $1,500 to FIVE2NINE for their promotional videos, in addition to pushing their social media presence.
School boards, waste disposal and flood response
To close out the meeting, council approved a proposal urging the provincial government to maintain local control over school boards.
“We don’t agree with the stance that the government is taking about cutting these school trustees,” Toller explained after the meeting. “We think they represent the parents and the people of the community.”
They also gave support to a request by the Pontiac Sorting Centre in 2016 to grind up some of their construction waste into “fine material” and use it as backfill in their biopark. Toller said that materials like gyprock and wood could be disposed of in this manner, but the Ministry of the Environment has yet to rule on the request.
“They don’t have the necessary permission yet, but we passed a resolution to support them due to the fact that they have this accumulating and it’s expensive to get it to Lachute,” she said.
Council debated the wording of a request they were looking to present to the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM) at an upcoming meeting. The request would reiterate the mayor’s call for an independent study into the causes of the flooding this spring.
They also supported a resolution by the Mansfield et Pontefract council to ask the province to renew a tax credit for investment in manufacturing and processing equipment.
Pool committee, energy from waste
Speaking after the meeting, Toller spoke about her conference with CAQ minister Isabelle Charest about a new fund for sports infrastructure. She said it would be the perfect funding avenue for the Pontiac Pool project, as it would cover 66 per cent of the building costs.
“At the meeting that I attended, there was only one other warden there, and the feeling around the room was, a lot of other regions weren’t ready to submit something,” Toller said. “The pool has been worked on since 2017. We’ve come a long way since then.”
She also spoke about her ongoing discussions to construct an energy from waste facility in the former mill site in Litchfield. She based her idea of the Covanta plant in York-Durham Ont., which incinerates waste to produce electricity. Toller said that the emissions are minimal and the Pontiac could take on waste from municipalities such as Maniwaki and Pembroke or even the city of Ottawa.
She added that she already had a letter of support from MRC des Collines, which she joked that she wanted to frame.
