MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller met with Quebec’s Minister of Forests, Fauna and Parks, Pierre Dufour, to discuss the future of the forestry industry in the Pontiac.

Toller said she was satisfied with how the meeting went and said she brought forward several proposals to which Dufour was receptive.

She said she pointed out to Dufour that although the Pontiac contains 40 per cent of the resources in the Outaouais, the provincial government has not invested enough in the region.

“My most important message was for him to know that for the Pontiac to recover and revitalize we need to re-enter forestry,” Toller said.

She promoted the idea of community forestry, something Toller said the minister was not familiar with.

The idea is that a co-operative of woodcutters would make forest management and land use decisions together in order to maximize both profitability and sustainability.

The area that the MRC has identified is 150,000 hectares in size.

“What this would accomplish is it gets the Pontiac their own community forest for economic development, for tourism, for reforestation – because a lot of it has already been harvested – and it’s close to Highway 148, which means it would be convenient for residents of the Pontiac to work there,” Toller said.

Toller also asked for the province’s help – and said the MRC is developing a strategy for – addressing both a labour and equipment shortage in the region.

On top of that, she also advocated for a forestry school, something she plans on addressing with the administration at École secondaire Sieur de Coulonge.

Toller said she also stressed the importance of getting the Davidson Mill up and running again. The idea of using the mill as a cogeneration plant has been presented to both Toller and the MRC council of mayors by Bruno Saint-Cyr.

If the Davidson Mill could get up and running again, Toller said it could go a long way towards boosting the economic fortunes of residents in Mansfield and Fort Coulonge.

“There’s a lot of poverty in Fort Coulonge and Mansfield,” Toller said.

Toller said she emphasized to Dufour that the Pontiac wants to be the province’s solution to the pulp and biomass issue.

Many forestry companies simply stockpile the biomass and pulp after harvesting wood. Those materials can be combined with water and burned to create energy in a cogeneration plant. Toller said 60 per cent of the products being harvested from forests are pulp and biomass.

“He looked at me and said ‘You will be a solution,’” Toller said of Dufour’s response.

She also took issue with what she called the over-regulation of the forestry industry in Quebec.

She pointed Renfrew County specifically, where there are a number of mills still in operation.

“Ontario is not as bureaucratic and over-regulated,” she said. “I think it’s time for a major shift in forestry in Quebec.”

By focusing on a specific aspect of the forestry process – pulp and biomass instead of timber – Toller said the Pontiac can have a thriving industry once again. She said going head-to-head with other mills is not a viable option.

“Whatever we do here has to be sustainable,” she said. “Most of all, we need a market.”

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