MRC des Collines

Marc Carrière elected to four more years as MRC prefect

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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. 

Marc Carrière elected to four more years as MRC prefect Read More »

‘Fast food medicine’ – doctors decry Bill 106

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By Trevor Greenway

The head of family medicine in the Outaouais says that doctors in the region are feeling “undervalued” in the face of Bill 106 – so much so that 33 of them have already moved to Ontario or taken early retirement. 

Dr. Guillaume Charbonneau, president of the Association of General Practitioners of Western Quebec (AMOOQ), and his team conducted a survey of their doctors earlier this summer on the impact of Bill 106. The survey found that 33 doctors had already decided to either move to Ontario or close their practice. Hundreds more reported that they are considering leaving the Outaouais. 

Bill 106, tabled in May, would link up to 25 per cent of physicians’ pay to their performance in an effort to get them to take on more patients. And with the Outaouais already short 2,000 family doctors, practitioners are preparing for another healthcare crisis in the region. 

“If we lose 30 to 40 doctors, it will take years, maybe, to catch up, with the way it’s going now, and that will create a lot of difficulty for the people in the Outaouais, in a region where citizens already struggle to get access to healthcare,” said Dr. Charbonneau, “So we cannot be a side effect of the way that the government decides to approach the negotiation with doctors.”

Charbonneau and other doctors  the Low Down recently spoke to about this bill cited fear over Santé Québec’s push for “quantity over quality.”

“So with this bill, we feel that they will ask us to do fast food medicine, and we fear that we won’t be satisfied with the job that we do with the patient. And for us, that’s more important,” said Charbonneau about Bill 106.  “We want everybody to have access, but what is more important at the moment is the patient that we have in front of us, and that we feel that we don’t want to risk his or her safety because we have pressure to see the next patient.”

One of the doctors surveyed by Charbonneau and his team this summer and who said he’s leaving the province is CISSSO department head Dr. Joseph Youssef, who’s already taken steps to obtain a licence to practice medicine in Ontario. 

“In Ontario, doctors are valued,” said Joseph, who is the head of Home Support Services, CLSCs and Day Hospitals, and the medical coordinator for Hospitalization at the Hull and Gatineau hospitals. “Here, it’s the opposite.”

According to several doctors and health advocates the Low Down has spoken with, including SOS Outouais and Vigi Santé, the Outaouais region is particularly vulnerable because of its close proximity to Ottawa. Ontario’s health department has more resources, better working conditions and higher salaries for doctors, nurses and technicians. 

But Dr. Charbonneau says that a “blanket approach” to healthcare in Quebec won’t work because the region is so unique. 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the fact that 33 doctors have already left and hundreds more are considering leaving in the face of Bill 106 is concerning.

“It’s kind of worrisome to think that that’s already taking place and the law has not yet been put into service,” he told the Low Down. “[The government doesn’t] even care that a doctor can just say, ‘Well, I’m not happy with this. I’m just going to cross the bridge in the morning. I don’t have to move. I don’t have to change schools for my children. I don’t have to go and reside in a different province. I can stay in my nice home in Wakefield or Chelsea and just drive and go and work in Ottawa, and I won’t have to have this new law that I have to abide by.’”

According to Vigi Santé, Wakefield has lost four doctors at its two clinics in the past two years. There are currently close to 8,000 people in the MRC des Collines region without a family doctor, which represents about 18 per cent of the region’s population. 

Gatineau Emergency room practitioner Dr. Peter Bonneville told the Low Down that, “I’m not leaving and I’m not considering leaving.” 

However he said that he is “on the fence” when it comes to Bill 106, as the bill’s intention is about giving more patients access to healthcare. Where it falls short, according to Bonneville, is the forceful nature of the bill.

“We want people to have access to healthcare, mainly to the frontline. That’s sort of a good thing of the bill,” said Bonneville. “I think the bad thing of the bill is that it’s sort of being rammed down doctors’ throats.”

Bonneville said that he understands what Santé Québec is trying to do – to increase the number of patients a doctor sees, ultimately giving Quebecers more access to healthcare. However he and others have argued that the region lacks resources and technology to seamlessly integrate remuneration linked to performance, as family doctors need access to hospital staff, scanners and experts to fully care for a patient. 

He had a pointed message for Health Minister Christian Dubé: “You want me to be more performant, but when I see patients in my office, it’s a one-year waiting list for a scan, a two-year waiting list for an MRI. It’s a three-year waiting list for a cardiac ultrasound. And you want me to be performant, but those people, they keep on coming back to my office because their problem is not solved, because I did not have access to tests.” 

Vigi Santé is hosting a doctor’s recruitment event this week to woo some young doctors into practising locally in Wakefield, as well as at the new family medical clinic that is set to open its doors in Chelsea next year. 

‘Fast food medicine’ – doctors decry Bill 106 Read More »

Health group worried about aging seniors in Hills

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

A health watchdog group in the Hills is concerned about the region’s aging population, as the MRC des Collines is already short 139 long-term care beds, saying the problem is only going to get worse. 

Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand told the Low Down that the province, nor the region, has a comprehensive plan to house seniors. With nearly 25 per cent of the region’s population over the age of 65, he said the need for a senior’s housing plan is long overdue. 

“How to adequately respond to seniors who wish to stay in their homes, rather than be forced to move to a long-term care facility?” Chartrand questioned. “First, do municipalities know how many of their seniors need home care? Do they know who they are, where they live? No. We need a comprehensive survey to identify them and their needs.”

According to Statistics Canada’s latest census profile, there are just over 50,000 residents in the MRC des Collines region. Of that population, nearly 15 per cent of residents are over the age of 65, while an additional 10 per cent are over 70. And with just 181 beds available, that leaves over 12,000 seniors with no option to grow old in the places they call home. 

“Les Collines’ population is aging fast,” said Chartrand.  

According to The Institut du Québec, projections show that in the next 20 years, the population growth of those aged 25–54 years will only be 128,000 people, while those 70-plus, which are larger users of the health system, will grow by 553,000 people. 

Quebec’s new health department, Santé Québec, has been slashing health budgets across the province in an effort to cut $1.5 billion from its budget. 

“Meanwhile, our hospitals in Wakefield and Gatineau are housing seniors waiting for long-term care beds,” said Chartrand. He added that long-term care patients are using at least 90 beds at the Gatineau Hospital and eight beds at the Wakefield Hospital.

“What facilities are in place to stimulate them, provide social activities?” said Chartrand. “Seniors from Les Collines, in long-term facilities, are displaced in CHSLDs in Gatineau mostly away from their families.”

Chartrand said that in 2024, 25 per cent of all emergency room visits were from residents aged 70 and up, and the cases are becoming “more complex, requiring more time and diagnostic equipment not available in Wakefield.”

“The need for home-care workers keeps growing, putting pressure on family members who are not trained to take care of parents, who require physical, psychological, mental, medical and basic home improvements,” he said. 

Santé Quebec responded to the Low Down after press time. 

Health group worried about aging seniors in Hills Read More »

Arborist found not guilty

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By Trevor Greenway

Tommy Townsend has an ear-to-ear smile as he sits on the back of his work truck outside of the MRC des Collines courthouse in Chelsea. 

He’s smiling because a judge just threw out his case in which he was accused of wandering around the village of Wakefield with a knife two summers ago. 

“It feels good,” says Townsend, minutes after Justice Joanne Cousineau found him not guilty of a bylaw infraction April 10. “I’m glad someone had some common sense. I don’t feel the police had any common sense on that day, personally, and I don’t think the prosecutor had too much either, but the judge did…I was not wandering around. I was in my vehicle, as she stated. It’s good to get some closure.”

Townsend was arrested at gunpoint in front of his two children by MRC des Collines officers on Aug. 18, 2023, after a witness called police and reported that a man wielding a knife was wandering around the village. 

During the trial, the Wakefield single dad told the judge that he had just returned from a quick job as an arborist and had his two daughters in the car, as they were going to buy shoes at Giant Tiger. He was suddenly pulled over by police, who drew their guns and ordered Townsend onto the ground in front of Kaffe 1870. 

He was later released and was not charged criminally. Weeks later, police fined him for a bylaw infraction for carrying a knife without a reasonable excuse. 

That was the crux of the trial, as Cousineau needed to determine whether or not Townsend had a reasonable excuse to carry a knife. In her decision, she said that the police, and Crown prosecutor Olivier Gosselin failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Townsend was “wandering around.”

In August 2023 Townsend told the Low Down that he was in Wakefield searching for a missing Low man, Simeon Wapachee, and was dressed in a safety vest as he showed passersby Wapachee’s photo. He had several knives sheathed to his belt. This was not mentioned in court. 

“When I have two contradictory versions, I don’t need to see who spoke the truth. I wasn’t there,” said Cousineau. “[The Crown] has a burden of proving every element of the infraction beyond reasonable doubt.”

She continued: “Nobody in that file came and testified saying that they saw you wandering around with a knife. You were in your vehicle. That’s not public property,” she said to Townsend during her decision. “It’s maybe not the best move to be driving around with a knife on you when you’re with your daughters, but who am I to judge on that? You were arrested, and the police say they saw you in your vehicle. Now, do I believe your version? Not so much, but the long and the short of it is, the police did not see you wandering around, and that is the infraction in this bylaw.”

Townsend submitted photos of his work truck to prove he was an arborist. 

“If you’re an arborist, you have an excuse,” she said. “The part of you having [a knife] on you is a little disturbing. The long and short of it is that you were in your vehicle; you were not wandering around on the street. If the people saw you, they should have come and testified, which they did not.”

Townsend said he is happy to get “closure,” but he hesitated when asked if he felt justice was served. 

“I feel this whole thing was unjustified to begin with,” he said, adding that the traumatic event still affects his daughters. At the time of the arrest, his daughters were six and 11.

He said his youngest has nightmares about gun violence, and his oldest is now afraid of police officers.

“The most tragic part of this unnecessary event is that two small children have no faith or trust in police officers anymore.”

Arborist found not guilty Read More »

Marc CarriereMarc Carrière

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

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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.

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

Cop shortages in Hills

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By Trevor Greenway

The head of the MRC des Collines regional government says that the Hills’ police force is not the only precinct facing officer shortages, as the problem is also across Quebec and the country.  

MRC des Collines Prefect Marc Carrière told the Low Down that staff shortages at the region’s police force are putting pressure on active officers and creating a tension-filled working environment for those on the frontline. 

He said that the police force is facing a lack of resources, with senior officers working atypical shifts, and many officers are being forced to work long overtime shifts to make up the shortfall. He added that the MRC des Collines precinct is currently struggling to fill about 12 roles. 

“It’s all across Quebec and in Canada,” said Carrière about the shortages, referring to places like Montreal and Gatineau. He noted that, at one point, Montreal was short 400 officers and Gatineau was short 40-50 officers.

“We are at the point where officers are doing forced overtime and that doesn’t please anyone.”

Carrière said that he is working with local police unions to form a recruitment committee to attract more officers to the region. The MRC des Collines police force is the only MRC in Quebec to have a regional police force, with the rest of the province being served by either a city detachment or the provincial force, the Sûreté du Québec. 

One of the main challenges for this region’s police force, according to Carrière, is the sheer size of the region. The region covers six municipalities that are spread out over 2,000-plus square kilometres. 

According to Quebec’s Police Act, passed in 2000, municipalities with more than 5,000 residents must have their own police force. When the law was being enacted, instead of La Pêche launching its own police force, it banded together with Val-des-Monts, Chelsea, Cantley, L’Ange Guardian and Pontiac to form the MRC des Collines Police. 

Carrière said his government is studying the benefits and detriments of switching to an SQ police force in the region but added that those discussions are at the very early stages. 

Past problems at MRC precinct

This isn’t the first time the MRC des Collines precinct has had issues. A report by Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) in July of last year found that the work environment under the direction of former MRC des Collines Police Chief Yves Charette was “toxic and unhealthy.” 

The report was spawned by a 2021 complaint from a lieutenant who said he was the victim of psychological harassment at work for several years, which caused “major depression and a resurgence of post-traumatic stress.” The report did not name the lieutenant. 

“The actions of the police director towards the worker over a period of approximately three years are objectively traumatic, beyond the normal scope of work,” wrote Judge Manon Chénier in the July 2024 decision. “These events do not fall within the scope of a reasonably exercised management right,” the decision emphasizes. “These are events that take place in a toxic work climate, while the worker is constantly criticized, belittled and humiliated.”

Charette left the MRC des Collines Public Security in early 2022 after being celebrated for 40 years of “distinguished service in the police force” during a recognition ceremony. A year and a half later, CNESST released its damning report on Charette.

Despite the past toxic culture, Carrière said he feels like current Police Chief Martial Mallette has cleaned up his precinct. 

“We’re not looking backwards,” said Carrière, adding that the issues took place before he was prefect and before Mallette was named chief. “We want to go forward, find a permanent solution and that’s what we are working on.”

Cop shortages in Hills Read More »

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