Summary of the vote that divided the opinion of the mayors of the MRC Pontiac

Summary of the vote that divided the opinion of the mayors of the MRC Pontiac

CHIP 101.9 took an interest in the resolution tabled by the MRC Pontiac, asking that conditions be attached to the funding intended to pay the consultant Pierre Vézina, who is responsible for the development of the Biomass Valorization Center (CVB).

The Warden of the MRC Pontiac, Jane Toller, who has been reluctant in recent months to continue with the current consultant, was initially in favor that performance conditions could be imposed. Among the conditions, we ask that the consultant ensure obtaining funding from the federal government and that he (Pierre Vézina) obtain guarantees from the company Renmatix to come and settle at the industrial site of “Portage”, located on the territory of the municipality of Litchfield, Renmatix being the company that was targeted by Pierre Vézina to come and settle at the Center for the valorization of biomass.

Rather, other mayors believe that this is a project that takes patience and must be continued in order to obtain results. Some, like the mayor of Bryson, Alain Gagnon, recalled that this is a project that initially started at the MRC Pontiac. “It was we who went to look for him, Renmatix didn’t ask for anything. We are the ones trying to convince them, ” Alain Gagnon reminded us.

In summary, the mayors of the various municipalities supporting the conditions related to the sums intended for the project blame the sums invested to date. They also doubt the consultant’s ability to attract a company like Renmatix which should be, as Pierre Vézina said, the heart of the CVB. Here is the link to the article produced in 2019 on the financial report of the CVB project.

The mayors disagreeing with the conditions imposed have indicated that more time should be allowed and that the MRC Pontiac has invested too much to stop currently.

The vote was divided, nine to nine. It was Jane Toller who decided by voting for the resolution and the conditions imposed. Remember that this summer, Pierre Vézina said he was confident to achieve concrete results . Deputy William Amos also said that the MRC Pontiac should go in this direction to help revive forestry in the Pontiac. Last September, William Amos told CHIP 101.9 that he believed in options based on new technologies to revive the forestry industry in the Pontiac.

More details via the article for this purpose.