City of Gatineau: October 2007

Series of Break and Enter goes unsolved

According to the Police (Saturday) there have been numerous break-ins in the Mont Luc area of Gatineau lately.

The thief or thiefs use force to enter (smashing down doors) and rummage though the house for cash and jewlery. The Police have no clues and no suspects and their advice was "Get a good insurance company".

Everyone in Gatineau needs to be on the lookout. These robberies are not silent (kicking doors down) and most likely someone in your neighbourhood.

If you see anything, call the Police.

Pont des Draveurs - Load Restriction

Anomalies in the bridge structure of Pont des Draveurs in Gatineau is forcing the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec to ban the movement of heavy trucks in the right lanes. Starting a midnight Friday October 19th, buses, trucks and any vehicle with more than five tons can only move in the centre lanes of the bridge.

The ministry says it is necessary to carry out repairs to cracks on the concrete piers supporting the bridge, however, work on the bridge is not expected before next spring.

This information was released to French media outlets on Thursday Oct 18th. There are still no further details on the City of Gatineau website.

Gatineau City Coucil

District maps:

Councillors
1 – Aylmer District	2 – Lucerne District	3 – Deschênes District	4 – Val-Tétreau District	5 – Wright–Parc-de-la-Montagne District
Frank Thérien 819-595-7110	André Laframboise 819-595-7110	Alain Riel 819-595-7110	Alain Pilon 819-595-7110	Patrice Martin 819-595-7110
6 – Orée-du-Parc District	7 – Saint-Raymond–Vanier District	8 – Hull District	9 – Limbour District	10 – Riverains District
Louise Poirier 819-595-7110	Pierre Philion 819-595-7110	Denise Laferrière 819-595-7110	Simon Racine 819-595-7110	Denis Tassé 819-595-7110
11 – Promenades District	12 – Versant District	13 – Bellevue District	14 – Lac-Beauchamp District	15 – Rivière-Blanche District
Luc Angers 819-595-7110	Joseph De Sylva 819-595-7110	Richard Côté 819-595-7110	Aurèle Desjardins 819-595-7110	Yvon Boucher 819-595-7110
16 – Masson-Angers District	17 – Buckingham District
Luc Montreuil 819-595-7110	Jocelyne Houle 819-595-7110

Gatineau to Get $40 Million for Infrastructure

Time to write to the Mayor and your City Councillor and demand that the Highway 50 and Highway 5 interchange be enhanced and the Alonzo Bridge and Verendrye from Greber to St-Louis be expanded to 2 lanes!

August 31, 2007

The City of Gatineau Receives an Initial Payment of $11,848,869 from the Transfer of a Portion of Federal Gasoline Excise Tax Revenues and the Government of Quebec’s Contribution

Gatineau, Quebec - The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and Benoît Pelletier, Quebec Minister responsible for the Outaouais region and MNA for Chapleau, on behalf of Nathalie Normandeau, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Regions, are pleased to announce that the City of Gatineau will receive $11,848,869 under the federal-provincial agreement on the transfer of a portion of federal gasoline excise tax revenues and the Government of Quebec’s contribution. This is the first payment for the City of Gatineau, which will receive a total of $37,027,716 over the next four years for major infrastructure projects. Also present at this event today were Stéphanie Vallée, MNA for Gatineau, and Charlotte L’Écuyer, MNA for Pontiac.

“We all know to what extent modern infrastructure benefits to all Canadians and is instrumental to the environment and the economy of the country”, said Minister Lawrence Cannon. “This is why our government works in partnership with the Quebec government to make cities and communities in Quebec the best places to live, study, work and visit.”

“The repair and modernization of public infrastructure is a high priority for the Government of Quebec. The funding announced today is a reflection of our commitment to improve the quality of life of residents. With this agreement, the City of Gatineau will now be able to rely on stable annual funding, which will facilitate planning the work that needs to be done,” said Minister Benoît Pelletier.

“I am pleased that the City of Gatineau can benefit from this governmental funding in order to modernize the drinking water treatment plan in the Aylmer sector,” added the Mayor of Gatineau, Marc Bureau.

The goal of the Canada-Quebec Agreement is to provide funding for the renewal of municipal and local infrastructure, and specifically for municipal drinking water, wastewater, local road system and public transit infrastructure, within a context of sustainable development. Canada’s new government will pay the Government of Quebec a total of $1.34 billion over five years, to which Quebec will add $475.7 million, for a grand total of $1.8 billion. Including contributions from municipalities, $2.3 billion will go toward renewing municipal infrastructure. The funds will be administered by the Société de financement des infrastructures locales du Québec (SOFIL).

City of Gatineau - Beautiful Nature

The last bunch of posts about Gatineau I have focussed on some of the negative aspects of living in the city of Gatineau and tried to dispell some of the sales myths used to lure home buyers to this region.

Today I want to focus on what I feel is the main selling point of Gatineau - Natural Beauty.

Gatineau, famous for "the Gatineau Hills" is a fantactic place for outdoor recreation. There are dozens of large parks, bike paths that go from one end of the city to the other, and many attractions and festivals.

Here are some pictures of the Gatineau Hills:

The Lac Lemay Casino and surroundings:

City of Gatineau Services - Daycare

The City of Gatineau and most of it's supporters talk about the "7 dollar-a-day" daycare system as a justification for the increased taxload.

My daughter was born in July 2006. My wife and I started contacting daycares for a $7 spot starting in January 2006 (yes - before she was even born) for July 2007 spots. It is now October 2007 and we have yet to hear from any subsidized daycares in the city of Gatineau.

While these spots do exist, they are not unlimited and they are very hard to get. If you put your child on a waiting list before they are born, you might get a daycare spot by the time they are 2.

If you are using the cheap daycare as a justification for the excessive Gatineau taxload, get your facts straight!!

Gatineau - the Traffic Problem

Gatineau 2007 is a result of the amalgamation of a few smaller cities: Gatineau, Aylmer, and Hull. The total population of the new city of Gatineau is about 250, 000 and about 1/2 of those live in the old city of Gatineau.

Despite being a city of about 100,000 people, Gatineau has a terrible traffic problem due partly to geography and partly to VERY poor city planning.

As you can see from the map below, Gatineau sector is bordered to the south and the west by the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers.

There are only 3 bridges to cross the river - 2 street level (one 2 lane, one 1-lane) and one highway. As a result, leaving or returning to the district of Gatineau during rush hour can take approximately 30-45 minutes (to travel less than 5 kms).

In addition to the lack of street access, one bridge (the single lane bridge) is at a corner with a Subway, Mcdonalds, Tim Hortons and other stores and restaurants.

I really don't know who in this city is responsible for traffic analysis, but they should be fired. And the citizens of Gatineau should be demanding better transportation options from the over-paid municipal government.

City of Gatineau