To the editor,
On Jan. 11, Protect Our Waterways – No Nuclear Waste represented over 25 per cent of South Bruce eligible voters with a delegation requesting a referendum as part of the October 2022 municipal election. It represented 1,258 voters who, whether they are in favour of or against the proposed deep geological repository (DGR) project, want the opportunity to vote in the privacy of the polling booth this October, so a decision can be made and the community can move forward.
Coun. Mike Neisen’s comment after the delegation raised a couple of concerns.
“So this timeline has been public knowledge since August, so I don’t know why you have waited until now to bring this to us.”
Why have we waited this long? Since March 2020, POW has presented four delegations to council that included the request for a referendum. Each time we were told it was too soon. POW has sent several letters to council requesting a referendum but the response has always been it was too soon. The community response to the draft 36 principles included many residents requesting a referendum but that was ignored. Over the past two years, countless letters have been sent to council by residents requesting they grant a referendum so a decision can be made, so the division can begin to heal… yet every time the council just passes the letter on to the Community Liaison Committee for information purposes without any discussion.
With the statement that the timeline has been public knowledge since August 2021, it raises the question: why was GHD hired to complete a $150,000 “How to Determine Willingness Study”? Why invite the community to invest their time and effort into a study when the council was going to decide on their plan before learning what the community was saying? Why ask the community to keep investing their time and keep waiting for studies to be finished first, when the studies are ignored if they don’t like results?
But contrary to the council’s response that we waited too long and that it is now too late, it isn’t too late. Our council has until Feb. 19, 2022 to provide notice to the public and the minister of the intention to pass a bylaw to submit a question to the electors. Phone a councillor, send a letter, sign the petition and/or join the We Deserve A Referendum Zoom conference on Jan. 27, 2022.
Let your voice be heard.
Michelle Stein
Teeswater
