Year in Review – August

It’s a me, Mario

Walking down Centre St. in Shawville, it is hard to miss the giant mural of Mario & Luigi on the walls of the Renaissance Variety building emblematic of their store.
Celebrating their 20th anniversary of being in business in Shawville, Jason and Lorna Yereck commissioned the mural that was in the works for two weeks. The couple sells everything from used books, movies, games, and CDs and their latest is Lorna’s handmade wax candles that they are currently selling in their store, called “Candles in the Attic.”

Federal riding borders to be redrawn
As a part of a nationwide redrawing of electoral boundaries, Elections Canada is proposing changing the borders of the federal riding of Pontiac.
The Electoral Commission of Quebec is proposing moving ridings boundary to the east, by transferring municipalities like Gracefield, Kazabazua, Low, La Peche, Déléage, and Grand Remous, among others, to the Laurentides riding. Val-des-Monts would be transferred to Argenteuil–La Petite-Nation from the Pontiac riding.
It is also proposed that the official name of the riding would change from Pontiac to Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi. The name of Pontiac riding is only as old as 2003, and before then was it Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle.

Two companies censured over illegal dumping in MoP
Quebec Ministry of the Environment and the Struggle Against Climate Change announced that two Gatineau based companies, Charlie and Jamie Young Transport and Construction, and Centre de tri-Myra had illegally dumped construction materials on five properties in the Municipality of Pontiac in the summer of 2012, according to a press release.
The ministry found construction materials that could potentially contaminate the land they were deposited on, such as plastic particles, polystyrene, concrete, brick, wood, glass, ceramics, gypsum, electrical components, asphalt shingles and fine sieving residues.
The materials were included in backfill used on the properties.

Beach in Quyon rated D for pollution
Officials from the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MEFCC) sampled water from the beach known as Aquafolie Beach at Camp Des Voyageurs Tim Horton in Quyon on July 27 and have labelled it as polluted.
The analytical results show significant bacteriological contamination and the range has been classified as category D: polluted.

Young Luskville cyclist competes at Jeux du Québec
From July 22 to 30, Luskville cyclist Isabel Holt competed in the Jeux du Québec.
With the support of her parents Myriam and Dough, who have always had an interest in cycling, Holt began cycling at age five.
“I started doing small local races. And since then, I’ve just loved it and just kept doing it,” noted Holt.
Holt trained with the Ottawa Bicycle Club racing program three days a week. The team is based in Ottawa but they have many of their practices based in Gatineau. “On Tuesdays, we go in the Gatineau Park and we do like a tonne of intensity. We do hill climbing, and hill repeats. Then on the Wednesday practices we usually do right across the bridge around Tunney’s Pasture and we do technical work. So we’ll learn our cornering and do sprint practices and like all those technical things that would help us in a race. And then on the Sunday practices, we do long endurance rides. So we’ll do like 100 kilometers, maybe even more,” said Holt.

Taking home the gold
Winning in three categories, a local bodybuilder distinguished himself at Montreal’s Popeye’s Natural Classic competition .
The Equity caught up with Marc Pieschke originally from L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet, to talk to him about his recent wins since the last competition we reported on June 1, 2021. Since then Pieschke has gained 12 more pounds of muscle, he said.
Competing on July 24 Pieschke won gold in three categories; first position novice 18 years and over, first position master 40 years and over as well as first position 50 years and over.

Premier Legault in Hull to announce CAQ candidate for the Pontiac
François Legault was greeted at the Cabane en bois rond in Hull by CAQ supporters chanting his name, as he introduced Corinne Canuel-Jolicoeur, a public servant and real estate broker, who will be the CAQ candidate for Pontiac and Suzanne Tremblay, president of the Outaouais teacher’s union, who will be the CAQ candidate for Hull.
Legault introduced Canuel-Jolicoeur as a public servant who has worked in the federal government for 20 years.
“I think that Corinne understands the preoccupations and priorities of the people of the Pontiac,” said Legault in French during his remarks.

Woman drowns in Black River
On Aug. 13, a woman drowned in the Black River in Waltham as reported by Sûreté du Québec.
It was around 3:45 p.m. when emergency services were called to the scene concerning a person in distress. Two women were said to have been tubing down Black River when one of them dropped an item in the water and as she reached over to grab it she fell in the water. The 68-year-old woman was not wearing her life jacket.
When the rescue team got to the location she was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to Sûreté du Québec.

Pontiac High School introduces a less restrictive dress code
Pontiac High School (PHS) students entering into the new school year will have a new set of dress code restrictions to abide by.
Along with back to school packages, parents and guardians were sent a list outlining the new rules for dress code. The list has been shortened from 11 points to 7 points since the 2018 version.
The previous dress code explicitly prohibited students from wearing anything with rips, tears, patches, or designs that look as such. The new dress code has no mention of this, and only requires students to have bottoms that cover undergarments and buttocks.

Piper Walsh brings home a silver medal for Luskville
Rugby player Piper Walsh, represented Luskville at the Canada Games and brought home the silver medal in Rugby 7’s.
The Canada Games, held in Niagara Ontario, began August 6 and lasted for 2 weeks.

Ladysmith church celebrates 150th anniversary
The St. Johns’ Lutheran Church in Ladysmith held its 150 year anniversary celebration on Aug. 21. The celebration included a special mass in which biblical hymns were sung in German and was presided over by both an interim pastor and special representative from Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
The celebration focused on the church’s history and community of German immigrants that built and sustained it.

Campbell’s Bay bake sale makes a change
After a few friends in the community came together to raise awareness and money for families impacted by the war in Ukraine, an organization in Poland decided to share how the Pontiac’s contribution has helped many families.
It all started when Sophie (Lisowski) Ringrose, a resident of the Pontiac, heard about the effects of the war as she has family members in Poland who were witnessing it.
Wanting to help, Ringrose and her friend Marilyn Amyotte along with many of their friends decided to raise money to send support. On June 18, they held a bake sale that took place at the Campbell’s Bay Legion. The bake sale amassed over $4,000, and all the proceeds went directly to the humanitarian group in Przemyśl, directly supporting Ukrainian Refugees.
On July 21 through a Facebook post, the Hope Foundation thanked the Pontiac community for their contribution. “Thanks to these wonderful women who organized the “Bake Sale” we are able to open a place in Przemyśl, right on the border of Ukraine, where we will materialistically support refugees.”
With the money, the organization was able to renovate and equip a place to support families and give them a safe place to stay, the house can hold up to 60 individuals. In addition, the Hope Foundation was also able to provide hygiene kits and the basic necessities for the start of the school year to families with young kids, as well as provide food to families.

Election kick off, interview with CaPQ candidate
Premier Legault officially announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, the 2022 Quebec election on August 28.
Continuing with our profiles of the Pontiac candidates, THE EQUITY sat down with Will Twolan, the candidate for the new Canadian Party of Quebec (CaPQ).
As to why the 21-year-old student felt it was time to get involved, Twolan said that Bill 96, Bill 21 and Bill 40 motivated him to take the leap.
“I have a lot of anglophone friends, colleagues and family,” said Twolan. “I felt that what the government of Quebec was doing wasn’t right. And there is no other party that is actually for repealing bill 96, 21 and 40, at least of the viable options. The Liberal Party of Quebec (LPQ) only wishes to amend it ever so slightly and just make some reforms.