Dear Editor,
There was a lot of misinformation in the Letters page this week. The candidate profiles were missing things too.
Clair Balfour believes the 4th Canadian Training Centre (the Base) is in Meaford. And therefore, Meaford always held a veto over the pumped storage proposal. Under Ontario law. He believes:
“Ontario’s Green Energy Repeal Act of 2018. In the words of former Energy Minister Todd Smith, who fought for that act: “Municipal council support is required for the approval of (new-build energy) projects on sites that are within their boundaries.”
Canadian Armed Forces Bases don’t fall under municipal or provincial jurisdiction. Because they can’t be “within their boundaries”.
“Military bases are owned and operated by the Government of Canada through the Department of National Defence, meaning they are exempt from local municipal taxes, zoning bylaws, and municipal governance. While a base sits physically inside or adjacent to a municipality’s boundaries the land itself remains under federal authority.”
Ontario’s Green Energy Repeal Act of 2018 (Doug Ford passed it to prevent Green Energy projects from spreading. He’s like Save Georgian Bay that way.) is irrelevant to the Meaford Pumped Storage discussion. The Base is not “within our boundaries”. That’s the law.
Pat Maloney believes the Base is part of the Niagara Escarpment. In the Meaford “part” of the Escarpment.
It most definitely is not.
An angry old biochemist sent me the Escarpment map. Years ago. The Base is completely excluded. The Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere has nothing to do with the Armed Forces Base in Meaford. Or the Pumped Storage proposal site.
Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere maps clearly show Mr. Maloney that he and Save Georgian Bay have been misleading people about that for years.
It would be ludicrous to think that a military base that has been training recruits by blowing stuff up, for generations, would form part of a UNESCO Biosphere! But when you have nothing that supports your position, I guess you have to resort to “manufactured facts”.
Mr. Maloney has the same right to redraw the Niagara Escarpment map as Donald Trump has to rename Lake Ontario. If Mr. Maloney insists the Base is part of the Escarpment, I will include Moose Jaw as part of the Escarpment in all future discussions. Equally valid.
Imagine the mental gymnastics it requires to argue for preserving the (uninvolved) UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve from one side of your mouth, while promoting the fiction that the entire Base “part” of that UNESCO Reserve is knee deep in toxic ordnance material – material that will surely kill us all – from the other side of your mouth.
Tony Primo believes candidates should leave their personal positions on the issues at home. Those positions show how candidates will vote if elected. No candidate, including Justin Perks, should think they don’t owe the voters an answer on how they will vote on issues that matter. Before the election. Not after. If you’re not prepared? Just say so. Be honest.
Perhaps Mr. Primo’s preferred candidates have positions they need to hide from the voters to get elected? For example, I’m sure more than one candidate would prefer to keep their previous involvement with Save Georgian Bay a secret.
You’d think they’d be bragging about it! Not hiding it.
Candidate Amanda Greenfield appears in the Collingwood Today article quoting people who sought to get the Town of the Blue Mountains Council to oppose the Meaford pumped storage proposal. She called the proposal “foolish”. (It’s very good for Meaford. And Ontario. Not “foolish”.) Ms. Greenfield urged TBM to endorse Township of the Archipelago’s shameful and error-filled opposition “Resolution”. Ms. Greenfield’s comments appear right after those of Tom Buck of the Save Georgian Bay Association in the article.
Yet, not one SGB mention in Ms. Greenfield’s profile? Odd that. Given her involvement. Is she now embarrassed that she did that? Enough to hide it?
No mentions of Save Georgian Bay in any of the candidates’ TMI profiles actually. Why? Possibly because most of Meaford understands now the severe damage SGB are hoping to inflict on Meaford’s future. So, I guess it’s best for candidates to keep their prior involvement with SGB secret if they hope to get elected? Mum’s the word?
Caryn Colman believes we must “Resolve that townships, municipalities and NGOs around Georgian Bay have a constitutional right to object to the Ontario Pumped Storage project.”
They already do. Have the right. They also have a constitutional right to object to people putting mayonnaise on their French fries.
Both objections are equally enforceable under the current laws. Not at all.
I have no idea where Ms. Colman has been for the last 5 years, but confused municipalities have done just that. After they reviewed nothing but fake data and false plans supplied to them about the TCE proposal.
Ms. Colman shares Pat Maloney’s confusion. She has not looked at the map of the Niagara Escarpment either. This explains how she believes she can protect the Niagara Escarpment by opposing the Pumped Storage proposal.
They’re not related. Different places. One is a Biosphere. The other is where they train to blow stuff up.
This is an important election. I’d be happier if we were all ratcheting up the honesty. Not doing the opposite.
You know what would help? Tom Buck and Save Georgian Bay should announce a list of SGB approved candidates for the Meaford election. Publicly. The complete list. Immediately.
What are SGB waiting for? You’d think they’d want people to know the candidates that SGB knows SGB can count on before the election?
Wouldn’t they?
Bruce Mason, Meaford
