Letter to the Editor
Mr. Editor,
The tone of Councillor Kentner’s letter to The Independent gave me the impression that he is not in favour of the TCE stored energy proposal. (That may not have been his intention.) He seems to be in a hurry to get the pros and cons of the project from the CAO because time is running out for Council to oppose it. Should someone who does not have all the information be focusing only on opposition? Is support for the proposal not an option?
In a previous letter to your paper I suggested that I would have little respect for any representative I voted for who did not keep an open mind until all factual information was available, when so much is at stake. Will the CAO’s report contain all the relevant information? Is he privy to the possible changes that TCE may announce in the future that will try to address many of the concerns received from our Meaford residents? (TCE said they would do that and I remain confident that they will. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose if they don’t keep their word.) Does the CAO have the environmental impact data that should be significant in Council’s decision making? I think not, as those studies are yet to be done.
I don’t want to diminish the importance of Mr. Armstrong’s report. I know he will do the best he can with what he has to work with but it is likely that the report will be out of date as soon as it is printed. He won’t have everything he needs to help guide Council to a conclusion, for or against. That’s not his fault. It is just too early in the process for the requested report to cover all the bases. It is not the end of the world if Council does not take a stand, one way or another, at this time.
We all need time for the balance sheet to be ‘fleshed out’. We will be presented with numerous positives and negatives that are not yet on the radar. There is information galore that needs to be gathered and weighed. TCE can’t study and safely change its plans overnight to meet important concerns presented by interested parties and groups and regulators and they must attempt to do that.
I say again that there is a lot at stake here for this community. Think hard about that balance sheet as time goes by and new information comes to light. Let’s get it right.
Jim Hepple, Meaford
