Dear Editor,
During last year’s election campaign, a taxpayer asked the candidates who would be in favour of the municipality installing electric vehicle chargers. Most hands went up. I foolishly assumed this was simple political pandering, since the idea makes no sense. I was wrong.
Now, with encouragement from Grey County, that bastion of spending, most local municipalities, Meaford included, are exploring EV installations.
I have a simple question for anyone who thinks this is a good idea: How many gas stations does any municipality own? Zero, as it should be. If avoiding interference with private enterprise in providing motive power for 99% of vehicles built in the last hundred years seemed wise, why install chargers now?
These units are being installed all over Grey-Bruce as we speak, at privately owned places of business who see a need that they can fill, utilizing property they already own. When EVs begin growing in sufficient numbers to justify more public chargers, the private sector will install them, and profit by them. It’s been quoted that these municipal owned chargers will be ‘revenue neutral’. Very few things done by any municipality is ever revenue neutral, but in Meaford, unheard of.
Our municipality needs to stick to the basics of governance: investigate why nobody seems to know how to start up a grader or chainsaw, why building permits and applications require more patience and time than most people have, why complaints and concerns are ignored or brushed off, etc. In other words, tackle the responsibilities of a municipality, rather than wasting more staff time on ‘voter friendly’ frills.
Bill Cameron, Bognor
Editor’s Note: Hear, hear! I have written many times over the past few years that municipalities should not be in the electric car charging business any more than they are in the gas station business. For example in April of last year, I penned an editorial asking ‘Should Small Municipalities Be Expected to Install and Manage Electric Vehicle Charging Stations?‘, and my answer was a clear ‘no’. If communities are lacking in charging stations, that is an industry problem, not a local council issue.
