To the editor:
Area farmers, farmland, and small communities being “targeted” by elected officials in municipal/regional councils, provincial and federal government and by big organizations?
Is it because this only disrupts the lives and livelihoods of a very few people, so that won’t be a big issue? Really? The lives and livelihoods of a few people, often generational families, who have spent years putting food on the plates of the many who enjoy the busy city life. Those few, who in their small communities organize many activities so that many can enjoy “country life” and do not have to live in a “concrete jungle”. It seems those “concrete jungles” are running out of room, so just go after the less populated areas and destroy their lifestyle.
The Green Belt, Wilmot Township, Greenock Energy Storage Project, and a deep geological repository (DGR) in South Bruce – all of them, and others, taking away agricultural land. Are we not already losing 300 acres a day in farmland? Where is our food going to come from – a test tube in a lab?
In South Bruce, and surrounding area, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is trying to “buy” your support by giving lots of money to the municipality, schools, volunteer organizations, etc. Sure, it is great to receive all this money, but remember, it is to make NWMO look good as they try to establish a community relationship so the people of South Bruce will agree to bury highly radioactive nuclear waste that will be radioactive for millions of years. Your children and grandchildren will live with it.
Have South Bruce residents, (and others,) been following the NWMO faithfully, learning all the facts, the studies, etc. about this DGR? After all, it has been 12 years of learning. A “yes” or “no” vote to decide if you are willing or not willing is to occur in South Bruce. A referendum, not by the security of a paper ballot, but by the not-so-secure telephone or computerizd vote. And if 50% or more do not vote, the municipal council decides for you.
This is a Canadian project, so you are voting for all Canadians. Don’t think this project won’t affect you. There will be an affect on the entire municipality of South Bruce and surrounding area.
Your vote could completely change the community.
S. A. McDonald
Culross/Teeswater
