Dear residents of the Pontiac,
Recently, I had the honour of attending the ceremony that was held in Campbell’s Bay to unveil the new ‘Maurice Beauregard Park’. The grand-opening of the park was held in honour of Mayor Beauregard who continues to be a great champion for his community, especially for his tireless commitment over the years to build a safe, accessible and revitalized area for all Pontiac families to enjoy. On behalf of the Regional Council of Mayors, the staff at the MRC and all residents of the Pontiac, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Maurice for this great honour! During the ceremony, I also presented Mayor Beauregard with the Pontiac Paddle of Achievement Award for his unwavering dedication to the Pontiac. Both of these honours are very well deserved, bravo Maurice!
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind residents that this coming Wednesday, Oct. 19th 2022 at 6:30 p.m., is the next monthly sitting of the TNO council and the Regional Council of Mayors. The meeting will be held in the Elsie Gibbons Room at the MRC Pontiac office. I encourage residents to either attend in person or follow-along on the MRC Pontiac’s Facebook Livestream. For the public question period, residents are invited to come ask their questions in person or by submitting them through the official form on the MRC website. The deadline for online submissions is Oct. 19th at noon.
Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the MRC Pontiac Regional Art Gallery at the MRC office. The reveal of the newly designed and curated gallery was held in the presence of mayors, members of the art community, MRC staff and local media. I would like to congratulation Sabrina Ayres, MRC Pontiac economic development officer, for her involvement and dedication to this project. I would also like to congratulate Caitlin Brubacher of Elephant in the Attic, a dynamic art curation and framing studio located in Portage-du-Fort, for her beautiful work in selecting the colours for the room as well as reframing and arranging all the art pieces and the photographs of the MRC Pontiac Wardens. All works are currently on display at the MRC Pontiac in the Elsie Gibbons Room and can be viewed during regular business hours (Monday to Friday – 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm), provided the room is not reserved for meetings. In conjunction with the reopening of the gallery, the MRC announced the call for artists for the next submission to the regional collection. All artists interested in submitting a piece can visit the MRC website for more information: https://www.mrcpontiac.qc.ca/en/call-for-artists-pontiac-regional-art-collection/.
I was delighted this week to be able to announce, on behalf of Bill Caine Jr. of Commonwealth Plywood, the reopening of the sawmill in Rapides-des-Joachims. I have been informed that the hiring process for employees will begin shortly as the equipment is fully operational and some last-minute tests for certain electrical components are currently underway. I have always been told that it is not an easy task to have a mill reopen once it’s been closed, and this one in particular was closed for the past ten years. As your elected Warden, I want to express how truly delighted I am for this reopening and want to thank Bill Caine Jr. and Commonwealth Plywood for their investment and commitment to the Pontiac. I would also like to recongnize the contribution of former Mayor Jim Gibson and present Mayor Doug Rouselle for their dedication to this project. It is my hope that there will be other mills to reopen in the future. Forestry built the Pontiac and it is our goal to ensure that we continue to be a strong player in the industry. It is gratifying after 5 years of working with Commonwealth Plywood to see our dream of growing the forestry industry in the Pontiac come true. I believe this news will send a signal to the rest of Quebec that the Pontiac is resourceful and that we are back in business!
I am also very excited about how we are progressing with our Energy-from-Waste project. As I have spoke about very often since 2017, the Pontiac has a unique opportunity to be the first site of an energy-from-waste facility which would aim to be a solution for municipal waste for the entire region of Outaouais, and potentially the Renfrew County and City of Ottawa. Next week, members of the council of mayors, some MRC staff and other municipal representatives will have the opportunity to visit the Durham York Energy Centre for a tour and demonstration on how the facility operates. The reality we are facing in the Outaouais is that the Lachute landfill, to which our municipalities are currently delivering their waste, is set to close in the next 10 years. We need to work together to find an environmentally safe and sustainable solution of dealing with our waste in order to ensure a safe environment for our future generations. I will continue to update residents on all possible developments on this project. This facility would produce 50 Pontiac jobs and establish us as the environmental leader in Quebec.
You can look for more updates on my Warden Jane Toller Facebook page and if you have any further questions about any of these projects, you can reach me by email at prefete@mrcpontiac.qc.ca or by phone at 819-647-8198. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Together Pontiac!
-Jane Toller
