CHRIS LOWREY
MUN. OF PONTIAC July 25, 2018
The question of who owns Curley Lake Road appears to be one of the sticking points going forward in the negotiations between the Municipality of Pontiac, the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Pontiac Snowmobile Drivers Association (PSDA).
The Municipality of Pontiac has claimed ownership for years, but the NCC believes it owns Curley Lake Road – or at least part of it.

Curley Lake Road has been used by the PSDA as the main connection between the Municipality of Pontiac and Masham. The group says that the link between the municipalities helps boost winter tourism in the area.
The NCC has declared Curley Lake Road as an ecologically sensitive area due to the presence of species like the Canada lynx and the bald eagle.
Not only that, the NCC Director of Quebec Urban Lands and the Gatineau Park, Christie Spence, says that the current trail isn’t safe.
“It’s not particularly safe, it can’t be groomed along its length,” Spence said. “In the long run, it’s not a great place for a trail.”
She also pointed to the fact that beaver dams have caused flooding in the area, which forces snowmobilers off the trail and into the woods, which can be dangerous.
As a result, the NCC sent an email to the PSDA informing the club of the trail’s closure for the upcoming winter. The group posted the email to its Facebook page where a stream of vitriol aimed at Mayor Joanne Labadie forced it to take the post down.
Labadie said she was was able to secure a one-year moratorium on the closure of the trail, but both the NCC and municipal brass have indicated a need to get the project moving forward after years of stagnation.
One of the keys to the negotiations is determining who owns Curley Lake Road.
The municipality claims it owns the road.
“For years, the Municipality of Pontiac has claimed ownership,” said Municipality of Pontiac Acting Assistant Director General Dominic Labrie.
But the NCC sees it differently.
“Certainly part of it, yes,” Spence said when asked if the NCC owns the property.
But neither side wants to take this to court. Both the municipality and the NCC have indicated that it wouldn’t be the best use of taxpayer money for two levels of government to fight over land ownership in court.
Instead, Labrie said the plan is for the NCC to take control of the land in exchange for investments in the replacement trail.
It seems that the preferred alternate route would be along the Eardley-Masham Road.
What that trail will look like appears to differ depending on who you talk to.
Spence described the trail as essentially a paved shoulder.
But PSDA president Alain Goulet says that would not be an acceptable alternative.
Goulet said that there are some areas of the Eardley-Masham Road that have a speed limit of 80 km/h, which would make it unsafe for snowmobilers. He also pointed to the fact that the shoulder is extremely narrow in some spots and there are other areas where riders would be up against a cliff face.
He would like to see the trail set back from the roadway, which would give snowmobilers more space between them and motorists.
He is also concerned with the NCC’s track record of opposing motorized recreational vehicle use in the park and worried snowmobiles could lose access to the park, which would isolate riders in the municipality.
But Spence said if the Eardley-Masham route goes ahead, that decision whether to prohibit snowmobiles will be out of the NCC’s hands.
“It’s a road, so it’s not within our jurisdiction,” Spence said. “I don’t know what we could give in terms of guarantees because it’s not even our jurisdiction, it’s the [Quebec Ministry of Transport’s].”
But despite an admittedly fractured relationship between snowmobilers in the region and the NCC, Spence has been reassured by the progress that’s been made so far.
“There has been a difficult history in the past,” Spence said. “But I feel very strongly in the past year that there has been a really open engagement to try and work together.”
But Goulet isn’t as confident.
“I’m not confident at all,” Goulet said. “We’ve worked with them before and we’ve lost [trail] connections.”
He’s also worried what the potential closure of Curley Lake Road means beyond this winter.
Goulet said it’s not likely for a replacement trail to be ready in time for the 2019-2020 snowmobile season.
At the Municipality of Pontiac’s most recent council meeting, a motion to entrust negotiations with the NCC to Labadie and Labrie was removed from the agenda.
Who will head up the negotiations with the NCC will be discussed ahead of the next council meeting.