County Regional Municipalities (MRC) were established in 1979 under the Land Use Planning and Development Act (LAU) to deal primarily with land use. They replaced the former County Corporations whose origin dated back to the creation of the first municipal insitutions in Quebec in 1855. Unlike County Corporations, MRCs include both the municipalities governed by Quebec’s Cities and Towns Act and those governed by the Municipal Code.
The MRC Pontiac is a large agricultural and forested region in southwestern Québec, in the heart of the province’s deciduous and mixed forests. Its Council of elected representatives consists of the mayors of the region’s 18 municipalities, and is chaired by the elected warden, Mrs. Jane Toller.
MRC Pontiac’s Jurisdiction:
- Land use planning in drafting a Land Use and Development plan;
- Watercourse management;
- Preparation of the assessment rolls of the 18 local municipalities;
- Property sale for non-payment of taxes;
- Establishment of a Waste Management plan;
- Establishment of a Risk Protection plan (fire and public safety);
- Management of the Regulation respecting waste water disposal and treatment;
- Management of quaries and sandpits and recreational leases;
- Appointment of a mediator by virtue of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land (LPTAA)
- Establishment of management indicators and monitoring;
- Economic development;
- TPI management;
- TNO management;
- Coordination of the Table GIRT de l’Outaouais;
- Management of SHQ programs (PAD and RenoRegion).
The MRC is also a signatory to various specific agreements with certain departments of the Quebec Government, for example:
- Municipal Affairs’ Territory Development Fund (FDT); and the,
- Cultural Development Agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
The MRC also has access to investment funds for private companies and social economy entreprises, such as the Local Investment Fund (FLI) from the Ministère Économie, Innovation et Exportation Québec (MEIE) and the FTQ’s Local Solidarity Fund (FLS).
These agreements are for local development.