Larose considers sidestepping federal regulations
K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist
The Municipality of Pontiac’s council passed a motion at Tuesday’s meeting asking the municipality’s provincial and federal representatives to accelerate the reconstruction of a culvert that was washed out in a mid-July rainstorm.
The culvert on Luskville’s Thérien Road has not been repaired since, leaving residents with no connection to Highway 148 other than a temporary detour through a neighbouring construction company.
Some residents aren’t happy with this option, saying an already unsafe detour will become almost impossible to navigate once the snow falls.
“There’s no way we can take this road in the winter without it being dangerous,” said Thérien Road resident Isabelle Girouard, adding that the culvert on the detour is only wide enough for one car and has no railing on either side.
“If it gets slippery, you fall down 12 or 13 feet because there’s no railing.”
Before the Thérien culvert can be replaced, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is requiring the municipality to submit two documents: first, a report describing the culvert clearing and recovery work; and second, a regulatory review application to replace the culvert that makes sure the proposed work would follow all provincial and federal environmental regulations.
The stream underneath the culvert is recognized as a fish habitat and the DFO wants to make sure any repair work to the culvert will not harm the habitat or the fish that live there.
To date, the municipality has not submitted either of those documents to the DFO, citing trouble getting cooperation from all levels of government.
Municipality of Pontiac (MoP) mayor Roger Larose said in an interview Monday afternoon they have been getting conflicting information from the engineering firm they hired through the Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités (FQM), which has had three different people dealing with their file since July.
Some of them have been telling MoP to hire a biologist to study the potential impact on the fish ecosystem, while others have been saying not to bother and just to proceed with the work.
“We keep having to start over every time,” he said, adding it has been frustrating getting different messages about how to proceed.
The motion passed at last week’s meeting asked MP Sophie Chatel and MNA André Fortin to raise this issue in their respective governments, but Larose has since said that because the DFO is just following the rules, there is not much they can do to accelerate the process.
He said it’s hard to get any results from motions like these because the representatives are at different levels of government and can’t work together.
Residents such as Girouard have voiced their concerns to Mayor Larose about the detour, saying they want the culvert replaced before winter, which is arriving fast.
She understands the need to protect the fish habitat, but now in mid-October she sees the work as urgent.
“I feel like the provincial and federal plateaus of government are not understanding the urgency of the situation,” she said.
Larose also feels the crunch. This Wednesday night (Oct. 16) he is holding a public meeting where he is going to discuss the possibility of proceeding with the construction of the culvert without submitting the required paperwork.
There could be consequences to going ahead with the work. The municipality won’t get provincial or federal funding, meaning it will have to pay for the $150,000 culvert it has already been looking at, in addition to any labour costs or additional costs.
“We could also get a fine,” he said, adding that he wants to use the meeting as an opportunity to hear how residents feel about the decision.
“I’ll bring up to council, it’s not my decision,” he said.
The DFO declined THE EQUITY’s request for a phone interview, but in prior communications with the department, communications advisor Véronic Lavoie confirmed it had not received the documents required to begin replacing the culvert.
“The Municipality of Pontiac must provide DFO with a report describing the culvert cleaning and recovery work,” she wrote in an email.
“Following this work, the municipality of Pontiac will have to submit a regulatory review application to DFO to replace the culvert, which is located in fish habitat,” she wrote, adding that the work cannot result in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.
She said both documents are required before they can authorize any work on the culvert.
Girouard feels that Mayor Larose and the council are doing what they can to help her with the limited resources they have. She acknowledges how few resources small municipalities like hers have, and that Larose has other things on his plate that he needs to do.
In September the council held a special sitting to announce they would hire Pontiac transit provider TransporAction to collect the one school-aged child who lives on Thérien Road — Girouard’s daughter — at her door and drop her at the bus stop on Highway 148.
Girouard is happy the municipality is ensuring her child will get to the bus safely, but for her this is only a temporary solution.She wants work to begin on the culvert so she and other residents of Thérien Road can resume their normal lives.
She feels as if she has been caught in the crossfire of all these levels of government, and that nobody at the provincial or federal level is listening to her concerns.