In a narrow 4-3 vote, Meaford council has decided to dissolve the Pumped Storage Advisory Committee (PSAC).
The vote came after Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney introduced a motion during council’s February 23 meeting, calling for the disbanding of the committee.
In her motion, Keaveney noted that with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) having made its first presentation in Meaford on February 12, and with the impact assessment process soon to begin, the advisory committee is no longer needed.
“Whereas the role of the IAAC is to review major projects to support sustainable development, protect the environment, and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples, with an emphasis on collaboration and meaningful participation,” read the motion in part. “Therefore be it resolved that the Pumped Storage Advisory Committee be immediately dissolved so as not to conflict with the IAAC process which is now the formal avenue for public participation as it relates to the proposed TC Energy Pumped Storage project.”
The committee has been operating for less than two years. Council officially established the Pumped Storage Advisory Committee in March 2024. Members were appointed to the committee in late April 2024, and the first meeting of the advisory committee was held on May 9, 2024.
Council was divided on the motion, with councillors Greenfield, Forder, and Ennis suggesting that the advisory committee should continue to exist even as the IAAC process is soon to get underway.
“Unfortunately there have been so many more questions than there have been answers,” Councillor Harley Greenfield told council. “To me, PSAC has a lot of other areas they could be entertaining.”
Councillor Brandon Forder agreed that there is a place for the advisory committee even as the formal impact assessment process is about to begin.
“How I look at it is, keeping PSAC really preserves Meaford’s institutional voice,” Forder told council. “IAAC’s mandate is to weigh national interests, whereas PSAC’s mandate is to ensure that Meaford’s interests are clearly articulated, and are clearly addressed, and those are not the same thing.”
Forder asked his fellow councillors what harm would be caused by allowing the committee to continue.
“Ultimately, what is the harm in keeping PSAC for the time being?” Forder asked.
Councillor Eric Ennis told council that after reading through the terms of reference for the committee, he could not see any conflict or overlap with the upcoming IAAC process.
Councillor Rob Uhrig told council that he supported disbanding the committee.
“The public does already have the opportunity to speak directly to council, as opposed to PSAC, they can come here and speak to us any time they want,” Uhrig told council.
Councillor Tony Bell also expressed support for the Deputy Mayor’s motion, but said he would also be open to revisiting the terms of reference for the committee should council desire to keep it operating.
Before council voted on the motion, Mayor Ross Kentner shared some thoughts with council, and he expressed thanks to those who have served on the committee.
“I want to conclude with a comment of my own,” said Mayor Kentner, who had not engaged in the nearly hour-long discussion of the motion. “First of all I would like to thank the PSAC committee members, if anybody failed, it was us, because we gave you an impossible task. This community is divided along very, very dramatic lines, and I think it’s very hard for people to see the opposing view, and to give it any value. I want them to understand that from my standpoint, I wanted it to be a committee that embraced every important position in the community, and it was very, very challenging in the end for it to work to great efficacy.”
In a recorded vote, the Deputy Mayor’s motion was approved in a narrow 4-3 vote, with councillors Greenfield, Forder, and Ennis voting against the motion, while councillors Bell, Uhrig, Deputy Mayor Keaveney, and Mayor Kentner voted in favour of dissolving the advisory committee.
