According to the mayor of Litchfield Colleen Larivière, the dossier of the biomass valorisation center (CVB) is still a feasible project. In an interview with CHIP 101.9, she reiterated that the project has progressed well in recent years. This statement comes after the mayors of the MRC voted unanimously for a resolution in connection with a company linked to the project, namely Renmatix and especially after the resolution to impose conditions on the consultant of this file, Pierre Vézina.

« It’s not going to take 10 years contrary to what has been said » says Colleen Larivière who referred to statements by elected officials, such as that of the mayor of Rapides-des-Joachims Jim Gibson or that of the mayor of Portage-du-Fort, Lynne Cameron. She also said that if the Renmatix company, targeted to establish a biorefinery, did not establish its plant in the Pontiac Industrial Park (located in Litchfield), there would be other options, according to her. “If that doesn’t happen with Rematix, there are also other companies that will be options, including research companies,” says Colleen Larivière. “Renmatix has a promise from the Quebec government of $ 15 million if the project goes further, not all companies have this kind of results. Work has been done to get there, ” insists Ms. Larivière. She said that several meetings with different mayors have taken place in recent months in order to explain the project to everyone. She says she does not understand why the other elected officials do not share her point of view on this issue. “I have a little trouble understanding that everyone is not on the same page” said Colleen Larivière. Remember that during the meeting of the mayors of the MRC Pontiac on November 25, half of the mayors asked that conditions be imposed on the consultant Pierre Vézina.

It should also be remembered that the conditions for granting the consultant’s salary for the next year consist of guaranteeing funding from the federal government as well as obtaining guarantees from the Renmatix company to establish itself in the Pontiac. Unlike Colleen Larivière, half of the mayors of the MRC Pontiac felt that the project had not yielded enough results. “We have the same presentations on the project that we did when setting up the project,” Jim Gibson said. During the meeting of November 25, it was Prefect Jane Toller who ruled in favor of imposition of conditions on the consultant.

“An MRC project” says Colleen Larivière
The mayoress of Litchfield insists, according to her, the file of the biomass recovery center is a file of the MRC. “This is a file from the MRC Pontiac. It has always been an MRC file. We even passed a resolution in October 2017 to say that the project was to take 4 years, that’s not 4 years ”firmly believes Colleen Larivière.

The resolution referred to by Colleen Larivière was adopted under the reign of the former Warden of the MRC, Raymond Durocher, so before the election of Jane Toller, who was elected by universal suffrage a few weeks later in November 2017. When of the November 25 vote, Jane Toller said she wanted to vote in favor of the conditions mentioning that the consultant’s results do not live up to expectations and that she has a duty to vote in the interest of the citizens of Pontiac. “One of my concerns is that I have noticed that for the past few years, when it comes to budget time to vote on the amounts allocated to the project, we have been promised that good news is coming. In October 2018, in October 2019 and this year is no exception. Each year I have expressed my concerns about this project, but for the first time we have the chance to discuss this issue in public. For transparency and for our accountability to the people we represent, it is important that we speak out publicly, " Warden Jane Toller told CHIP 101.9 on November 30.

In this case, the mayoress of Litchfield, rather believes that it is necessary to leave the chance to obtain results. Last August, the consultant Pierre Vézina, had also told CHIP 101.9 to be able to achieve interesting results. On January 16, a meeting on the forest industry, bringing together the mayors will take place. Colleen Larivière and the mayor of Isle-aux-Allumette, Winston Sunstrum, said they hope all mayors will be on the same page after this meeting.

The French interview with Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivière is available below.