MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller was pleased to hear Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) Pierre Dufour mention her during a Feb. 8 press conference while referring to the promise in the Pontiac’s forestry projects.

The press conference was held virtually for Dufour to discuss forestry strategy with key Outaouais forestry industry leaders and elected officials.

After being asked by the media about the status of a potential buyer to reopen Fortress Mill in Thurso, Dufour explained that . . .

while there was one, there was also promise in the Pontiac portion of the region.

“Then he just said, ‘but Madame Toller has projects,’” Toller explained during her post-council meeting scrum on Feb. 17.

“I practically fell off my chair when I heard him mentioning my name, I was delighted but surprised,” she added.

She said that he was referring to the past three years of her working closely with the MFFP and keeping them informed on the progress of projects in the Pontiac.

“They know about the biopark, but because the biopark is still in study phase, especially needing more feasibility studies, I’ve been mainly speaking about the [Énergie] Davidson project and also reopening the mill at Rapides des Joachims,” she said.

Toller said that one of the things Dufour referenced during the press conference was a recent report from Luc Lebel, a professor from the University of Laval, on the sustainability of forestry in the Outaouais should the Thurso mill reopen.

In the report, Lebel said that there are multiple options in the region for an additional pulpwood taker that would increase the harvesting of all forestry products, in tandem with Fortress Mill. Those options include the potential reopening of the Davidson Mill cogeneration plant, but they also include ones in Mont Laurier and Maniwaki.

Davidson Mill co-owner Bruno St-Cyr said that Lebel’s report proves that an additional mill, aside from Thurso, should reopen to help revive the forestry industry. However, he is worried that the politicians in charge of making the decision on which project should get the stamp of provincial approval, whether it be Dufour or Minister of Economy and Innovation (MEI) Pierre Fitzgibbon, will make a purely political decision.

“It will be political if they choose to put an industry, or maybe at least invest in Maniwaki to do something with the pulp wood,” St-Cyr said, adding that the MNA in the Gatineau riding, Robert Bussière, is a member of the governing CAQ.

St-Cyr said that the MEI arranged to have a consultant carry out a report to examine the profitability of a cogeneration plant at the Davidson site. The report is currently being compiled before being examined.

“We all know that they asked a consultant to do an analysis and we all know that it will be … I’m sure that it will be positive,” he said.

He remains hopeful his facility in Davidson gets approved to open for the first time since closing eight years ago, but he said that being afforded that opportunity will now come down to Dufour.

“We need to get something in the Pontiac.”

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