L’Outaouais sous la loupe Newsletter: the Pontiac mainly affected by border issues

L’Outaouais sous la loupe Newsletter: the Pontiac mainly affected by border issues

The issue that stood out for the Pontiac compared to the rest of the Outaouais region in the third edition of the newsletter L’Outaouais sous la loupe, published by the Outaouais Development Observatory (ODO), is what is called social cohesion, especially because of its geographical and linguistic situation. The ODO knowledge transfer officer Madeleine Lefebvre explains:

Which makes the Pontiac more affected by border issues, is that it shares a large portion of its territory with Ontario making it the largest border between Quebec and Ontario.

L’Outaouais sous la loupe was written following the publication, last November, of a report summarizing the findings of the Tournée des territoires, conducted by the ODO in the spring 2018.

The document highlights the main issues affecting the different regions of the Outaouais and comparing them. You can subscribe to the L’Outaouais sous la loupe newsletter via the observatory’s website at www.odooutaouais.ca.

Access to services is of concern to the entire Outaouais
A common concern across the Outaouais is the access to outreach services, which “weighs heavily on the ability of the territories to retain their youth, to retain their elders, to attract newcomers and convince entrepreneurs to invest locally”. There is also talk of “deficient” coverage of the Internet and mobile networks, which seems to be a big concern for the future of businesses and for effective access to information.

In the coming months, the Observatory plans to produce a socio-economic portrait of the Outaouais by territory. Community portrait data should also be updated in 2019.

The complete interview in French with Madeleine Lefebvre is available here.