There is a lack of trustworthiness for the safety of people in the Pontiac according to the MRC Pontiac who said this in a press release issued yesterday following the outage of telephone, Internet and television services on Tuesday in the MRC Pontiac. This is the 5^th large outage in nine years, despite pressure by the MRC with Bell and the CRTC to ensure a redundancy of the telephone network is in place in the Pontiac.

Raymond Durocher

Warden Durocher is furious. Saying that the security of the residents is at stake; he understands that the installation of an emergency line is expensive, but how much is the life of a human being worth?

Service providers have stepped up efforts to restore service as quickly as possible. However, in some areas, the failure persisted until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

The incident occurred at approximately 12:45 pm yesterday near Highway 148 east of Fort-Coulonge. The citizens of the municipalities of Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Fort-Coulonge, Waltham, Isle-aux-Allumettes, Chichester, Sheenboro in the Pontiac and Petawawa, Pembroke and Renfrew, Cobden in Ontario were all affected by the outage.

Pontiac MRC Public and Civil Safety Coordinator Julien Gagnon immediately warned the fire departments of each municipality. According to Mr. Gagnon, “the operational frequency in connection with the fire distribution center located in the MRC des Collines was still operational.”

The Member of National Assembly for Pontiac André Fortin, accompanied by the Member of National Assembly for Gatineau, Minister of Justice and Minister responsible for the Outaouais region, Mme. Stéphanie Vallée, are at the Luskville Community Center until 8:30 PM to help flood victims.

Victims will have the opportunity to ask questions and get answers on the spot from the various stakeholders involved. These include the Department of Public Safety (MSP), the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy (MAMOT) and the various municipalities affected by the floods. All stakeholders will be at the same place.

This event is being held following the implementation of additional resources announced by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy, Minister of Public Safety and Minister responsible for the Montreal region on September 12, to provide better support to flood victims and the affected municipalities.

The new measures include:
• the creation of partnership committees
• increased support from affected municipalities
• New agreements with agencies regarding temporary accommodation.

The spring flood affected 286 municipalities in 15 regions of Quebec, flooding more than 5,300 homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 4,000 people and the closure of several roads.

Mining prospecting is gaining popularity in the Pontiac. Two prospectors in the area are convinced they have spotted a large graphite deposit in the Waltham area, and Élizabeth Séguin spoke with both Jean Philippe and Bernard Charron in an interview:

Clip - Jean Philippe et Bernard Charron

The full interview is available here.

At the Pontiac Journal Reader’s Awards Gala, excellence will be celebrated in 38 categories from local businesses, organizations to municipalities. The winners will be highlighted soon in the Pontiac Journal, In the best municipality category, the municipalities of Shawville and Mansfield-et-Pontefract shared first place. More details to come in the Pontiac Journal.