Benjamin Segobaetso – Local Journalism Initiative
Published online September 23, 2026, at www.pontiacjournal.com
PONTIAC — Québec solidaire candidate Bianca Baldo says she would push to restore maternity services at l’Hôpital du Pontiac in Shawville, arguing that rural residents should not have to travel to Gatineau or Ontario for essential health care.
Baldo said the loss of the hospital’s maternity unit has left women travelling as much as 75 minutes to give birth. She also wants to expand eConsult, allowing local doctors to seek advice from specialists without requiring patients to make lengthy trips outside the region. Restoring services closer to home is a central theme of Baldo’s campaign, extending from health care and education to protecting Pontiac’s forestry and agricultural economies and giving rural communities a greater say in decisions affecting them.
On primary care, Baldo supports Québec solidaire’s proposal for up to 400 new health-care access points across Quebec, largely through CLSCs. In Pontiac, she wants the CLSC de Quyon strengthened as a local entry point for care. Baldo, who said she lives with a disability and knows the difficulty of navigating the medical system without a family doctor, argued that decisions about rural health care should be made closer to the communities they affect. “We already have local specialists and organizations committed to this work, and they need to be at the forefront, not an afterthought,” she said.
Baldo is also campaigning on targeted financial assistance for Pontiac businesses and workers affected by the Canada-U.S. trade dispute. She backs Québec solidaire’s proposed fund of up to $1 billion annually through 2028 for wage subsidies, business loans and worker retraining, but said government assistance should come with conditions requiring companies to protect employment rather than providing “blank cheques.”
“For Pontiac, that means support tied directly to keeping sawmill and dairy jobs here,” she said. Baldo said she would also push for a standing provincial emergency mechanism that would automatically activate when a rural region’s principal industry suffers a major economic shock. On trade, she described protecting supply management as a “red line” for Quebec because of its importance to dairy producers. “That isn’t a bargaining chip. It’s the ground our farmers stand on,” she said.
But Baldo rejected protecting dairy at the expense of forestry. “I would not trade away forestry,” she said. “It’s Pontiac’s economic backbone.” Her economic priorities include directing more provincial procurement toward Quebec lumber and agricultural products and encouraging diversification through value-added forestry manufacturing, renewable energy, agri-food processing and tourism linked to the Ottawa River.
Education forms another part of Baldo’s campaign. An art teacher in Aylmer, she said rural schools are struggling with staffing shortages, heavy workloads and aging infrastructure. She supports improved working conditions, greater renovation funding and minimum staffing thresholds for psychologists, speech-language pathologists and other professional and support staff.
Baldo also wants more vocational and post-secondary programs available within the region, arguing that limited educational opportunities contribute to young people leaving Pontiac and not returning. For Pontiac’s anglophone population, Baldo said protecting access to English-language schools, health care and social services can coexist with efforts to strengthen French as Quebec’s common language.
“I want strong, well-funded English schools and health and social services here, protected as a right, not up for negotiation,” she said.
Baldo also criticized the penalties facing LaSalle College over enrolment in its English-language programs, saying language rules should be enforced without imposing penalties severe enough to threaten an institution’s survival. She warned that uncertainty over English-language education could push more Pontiac youth to pursue their education and eventually settle outside Quebec.
Across those issues, Baldo’s campaign presents a common argument: Pontiac needs stronger local services, protection for its major industries and a greater voice in decisions made in Quebec City.
Photo credit: Bianca Baldo’s team.
