Editor’s note: The following is an open letter addressed to South Bruce council.
I am concerned about the closed session on May 31, regarding the Memorandum of Understanding for the proposed deep geological nuclear waste facility and repackaging plant between the Municipality of South Bruce and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).
Several members of the public were in attendance, and before we were sent outside the South Bruce municipality office, I asked, “Why there is a closed session?”
Mayor Robert Buckle’s response was, “The personal views from the councillors.”
Reading the regulation rules for closed meetings, I do not believe this is a valid reason to go into closed session.
When the closed session was done, we were notified to come back in and when the council meeting was finished we had a discussion with Mayor Buckle and CAO Leanne Martin.
I again asked why there was a closed session.
Mayor Buckle responded by saying, “We are negotiating with the NWMO on different issues, and one of the issues is the MOU; what they will commit to and not commit to.”
I asked why residents are unable to hear what councillors are saying about the MOU.
Mayor Buckle said they had a closed meeting “because the elected officials decide what we should bring forward to the public.”
Another resident mentioned, with the municipal elections coming up, where the councillors stand and who to vote for is an important issue for the residents.
“As voters, should we not know what the elected councillors are saying on our behalf?” they asked.
Mayor Buckle did not give an answer.
Why is council not asking the hard and difficult questions about the risks of the project?
CAO Martin tells people there is opposition and she is thankful for that. Martin went on, saying, “I can’t think of everything… the questions and concerns helps us to investigate the project and understand it more.”
The public chuckles.
Why is no councillor or the CAO asking the hard and difficult questions in the council meetings? Why are the councillors so quiet at meetings regarding the DGR? Mayor Buckle would not discuss those questions.
When the DGR pollutes the water, how does NWMO clean it up? The NWMO cannot guarantee the safety of containing the high-level nuclear waste.
Briarpatch magazine filed a Freedom of Information request with Pinehouse, Saskatchewan in 2013, and disturbing facts came to light as to how the NWMO was practicing in that area. Invite the Briarpatch magazine staff, who did the write ups about questionable practices in northern Saskatchewan by NWMO and community leaders, to speak in South Bruce.
Dig deeper,
Rita Groen
South Bruce
