Marc Carrière

Marc Carrière elected to four more years as MRC prefect

Local Journalism Initiative / The Low Down / October 8, 2025 / Cantley, Chelsea, L’Ange-Gardien, La Pêche, Marc Carrière, MRC des Collines, Pontiac, prefect, Val-des-Monts

By Trevor Greenway

Marc Carrière has been reappointed for another four years as prefect of the MRC des Collines, and he says climate protection is among his top priorities.

Carrière was elected by acclamation on Oct. 3 after no one stepped in to challenge him for the prefect seat of the MRC des Collines regional government.

He said his first priority is to continue the climate work he started when he was elected in 2021.

“That will be one big issue for us and the six municipalities: we’re finishing our climate plan with Kitigan Zibi and all the wetlands plan and so on,” said Carrière. “So there’s a lot to do and we have to be resilient with all those environmental changes.”

The MRC des Collines worked with its six municipalities – Cantley, Chelsea, La Pêche, L’Ange-Gardien, Pontiac and Val-des-Monts – to establish a climate commission. One of its first orders of business was analyzing the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. The 2022 study found that road transportation was the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the area, accounting for 62 per cent of emissions. The next largest emitter was off-road transportation, accounting for 24 per cent. In 2022 the total emissions amounted to 318,095 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

Carrière told the Low Down that work is underway to develop solutions to limit these emissions. He said the MRC is building a new eco-centre for hazardous waste and electronic waste drop off in Val-des-Monts, off the corner of Hwys 366 and 307. The $3 million eco centre is expected to be built next spring.

“It’s in the centre of the MRC, so it’s the perfect location,” added Carrière.

The MRC is also looking to become a leader in solar energy, said Carrière, as the land’s topography provides maximum exposure to sunlight. He said the MRC is working hard at building a new solar program that would allow it to sell energy to Quebec as a revenue stream.

“Quebec is looking for more and more energy, sustainable energy,” said Carrière. “We don’t have any potential for windmill power but we have a lot for solar panels. “I think the Outaouais could be a leader in solar energy.”

Other priorities include working on sustainable development and implementing the MRC’s social development strategy, which was finalized earlier this month and will aim to support local non-profit organizations in the region. Carrière said the MRC is also exploring the possibility of amalgamating fire departments, however that study is in its preliminary stages.

Carrière said that he was proud of the work he did in his first mandate, namely helping the region’s police service implement a mental health and domestic violence unit when dealing with sensitive calls or distressed individuals.

The MAINtenant ensemble program, implemented in 2021, sends social workers on domestic violence calls to help de-escalate encounters and ensure kids and women are safe. In 2023 the MRC and local police launched the MAINtenir le lien program, which pairs police officers with mental health experts during distress calls.

“We put on the domestic violence squad and also the mental health issues squad, and that’s a big thing for our citizens,” he said.

Carrière will be officially sworn in within the next 30 days.

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We can’t ‘bury our heads’ on climate change: MRC prefect

Local Journalism Initiative / The Low Down / February 24, 2025 / Chelsea, Flood maps, Gary Martin, Marc Carrière, MRC des Collines, Trevor Greenway

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

The head of the MRC des Collines regional government says that local municipalities in the Hills can’t “bury our heads in the sand” when looking at the threats of natural disasters in the wake of climate change.

MRC des Collines Prefect Marc Carrière told the Low Down that his government, as well as municipalities in Gatineau, La Pêche, Pontiac, Cantley, L’Ange Guardian and others, are working together to map out five local rivers in terms of their floodplains.

He said there is also concern for those who live near bodies of water – especially since Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment recently told the Low Down that it expects the “the surface area of floodplains would increase by approximately 40 per cent in the next-generation maps.”

“We have had two major floods in 2017 and 2019, and you never know when this will happen again,” said Carrière. He noted that there was another massive storm in the Hills last summer, which flooded properties, damaged homes and washed out several roads in Hollow Glen in Chelsea. “With all this climate change, we have to be prepared. So, of course the MRC and the municipalities are worried, especially for the residents that will live in the next flooding zone.”

According to Craig Stewart, part-time Chelsea resident and the vice-president of Climate Change and Federal Issues with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), about 10 per cent of homes in Canada are “uninsurable” for flooding, as they are built in the 100-year floodplain. Insurers won’t cover them because it is nearly a guarantee that they will flood within 20 years, he said.

Carrière said his government will need federal and provincial help.

“People will have to adapt, but we can’t bury our heads in the sand and think it will never happen again,” added Carrière. “It will happen again.”

The federal government is working on a national partnership program with insurance companies to offer coverage for these “high-risk” homes. The problem is that the program is taking time to iron out, and with the new flood maps expected later this year, homeowners could find themselves in an expensive bind if they want certain flood coverage added as a premium.

Despite the alarming assertion by one government source that flood zones would increase by 40 per cent in Quebec, local Carleton University researcher Gary Martin, who studies climate change adaptation and flood risk management, said that while flood risk is clearly increasing across Quebec, it remains to be seen how the province’s maps will differ from existing municipal flood maps. He said that municipalities and the MRCs know where the risky areas are, and have worked for decades to keep housing out of those risky areas.

“Whose climate modeling and flood mapping are they using? What’s their level of certainty? How far in the future are they planning? The feds are working on new, publicly accessible flood zone maps across Canada too. Whose map will you use?” Questioned Martin. “That 40% figure concerns me. Will it cause people to panic?”

“This is all up in the air, and I don’t think people need to freak out just yet,” Martin continued. “The feds and the provinces and municipalities understand the problem, and are all working through this to ensure that people don’t lose the equity in their homes.”Carrière said that the local MRCs are mapping out five rivers in the area: Gatineau, Quyon, Outaouais, Du Lièvre in Masson-Angers and Blanche in Perkins. He said the maps should be completed by the end of the year.

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