Dear Editor,
It was shocking to learn that Meaford Council was even considering disbanding the Pumped Storage Advisory Committee (PSAC) at its meeting on Monday.
That committee became the only body attempting a modicum of the due diligence on TC Energy’s $7 billion pumped storage project that Council totally failed to undertake before its ‘willing-host’ vote three years ago.
That 5-2 vote on Feb. 27, 2023, gave TC Energy the official green light it needed to proceed, despite the caveat of being ‘conditional’. Uninformed by any analyses or studies, the vote was sweeping in its arrogance and sense of entitlement — as though four men and one woman could disregard intense vocal opposition expressed by members of a standing-room-only crowd in Meaford Hall, as well as petitions with more than 3,000 written signatures plus 40,000 more online, and make a decision that would affect the entirety of Georgian Bay and all the communities around it.
While provincial legislation does require communities like Meaford to make such decisions, no consideration was given by TC Energy’s enthusiasts on Council to the fact that shoreline communities cannot control bodies of water and water knows no municipal boundaries. What happens to the water at Meaford does not stay in Meaford, which is why six other Georgian Bay communities have passed their own motions opposing the project.
That 2023 Meaford vote followed the blatant threat from the company’s project head that, unless Council voted in TC Energy’s favour, there would be no community benefits. Well, three years later, there still aren’t any agreed-upon benefits. The PSAC was established as key to the process of determining such benefits by encouraging public participation and discussion of the biggest and most disruptive project in the recent history of Georgian Bay.
But the deputy mayor, who pushed the willing-host motion almost exactly three years ago and herself a member of the PSAC, moved to disband it. Her motion before Council stated that the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) “is now the formal avenue for public participation as it relates to the proposed TC Energy pumped storage project.”
That is entirely misleading. Whereas the PSAC was established to “contribute to the development of strategies to align and maximize local benefits,” there is absolutely nothing in the federal Impact Assessment Agency’s mandate about local benefits.
To the contrary, that agency exists to smooth the way for those seeking to undertake large and disruptive projects, such as TC Energy and its pumped storage project, so they can be done in the least harmful manner. Not without any harm. Just the least harm possible or with the best mitigation strategy. Under IAAC’s federal mandate, there is very little opportunity for public comment–one 30-day period at the outset, then another midway through the process.
And where will Meaford’s community benefits fit into this scenario? Nowhere. Council gave away its bargaining power in 2023. The move to form the PSAC was a token gesture. But the committee proved to be more effective in demanding answers than originally intended and so the deputy mayor decided it was time to pull the plug on it, too.
At the last PSAC meeting (Jan. 29) the CAO referred to the coming Impact Assessment process but nothing was said about a conflict with the federal agency or about dissolving the PSAC. If left alone, the committee would effectively wind up anyway next fall when Council is dissolved for the next election. Apparently that is not soon enough for some on Council who want it ditched now before it can bring more unfavourable information to light. That will suit TC Energy just fine.
The move is not only shocking. It is shameful and a public embarrassment to the people of a proud and uniquely charming 152-year-old-town.
Clair Balfour, Meaford
