Low is a township municipality in the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality of western

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is situated along the Gatineau River north of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

, and it is located within Canada's National Capital Region. Its 2021 population was 1,020. Low received its name from Charles Adamson Low, a lumber merchant who held timber rights in the Gatineau Valley. A section of Low called Tucker Lake was home of the Gatineau Clog, a country music festival founded by Wayne Rostad in 1980 until 1995. The mayor of Low is Carole Robert, who was elected in November 2017. The two most recent former mayors were Morris O'Connor and Michael Francis, who was mayor back in the mid-eighties, and was re-elected in 1997. Francis announced his retirement in the summer of 2009, and finished his term in November 2009.

Geography

Low is situated in a corner of mountainous terrain on the edge of the Gatineau Hills, but conducive to agriculture. It is dotted with an abundance of lakes, most notably Sainte-Marie, Island, Doyle, Cameron, and Venosta Lakes. In addition to the village of Low itself, other communities in the township municipality are Brennan's Hill, Fieldville, Martindale, North Low, Paugan Falls, Stagsburn, and Venosta.

History

Low represents a rare case where the township was formed after the municipality; the township dates back to 1859 whereas the municipality was founded in 1848 and the municipality township was officially established on 1 January 1857, and came into force on 1 January 1858. It was named after Charles Adamson Low, an important timber merchant of the region in the mid-19th century, a time when many Irish immigrants settled here. Its post office was established in 1854. In 1928, the village of Low built the Paugan hydroelectric dam. This caused the voluntary flooding of the village to the north, Lac Saint Marie, Quebec. Because of the dam, 90% of the village of Lac Saint Marie had to be relocated to higher ground.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Low had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 53% * French as first language: 42% * English and French as first language: 4% * Other as first language: 1%

Paugan Hydroelectric Station

The Paugan Station (''Centrale de Paugan''), built in 1928, is a

run-of-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

hydroelectric power station and dam on the Gatineau river, operated by

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

. It has a

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of , and 8 turbines with a total capacity of 202 MW. Its reservoir is .

Local government

List of former mayors: * Michael Francis (...–2009) * Morris O'Connor (2009–2017) * Carole Robert (2017–present)

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Township municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Outaouais