Dear Editor,
In a letter (Oct. 15) Meaford’s mayor asserts that a number of legal opinions have assured council there is nothing it could do to stop TC Energy’s pumped storage project.
Yet it was council’s Feb. 27, 2023, decision to offer Meaford as a willing host that allowed the project to move ahead in the first place. Meaford did have the power to stop it by defeating that motion. It gave away its bargaining chips that day under threat from TC Energy that, without voting to play a “willing host” there would be no municipal benefits.
Council rolled over without ever knowing what benefits there might be and now, according to the mayor, has no clout.
A new council might feel differently about being a willing host and might listen to opposing voices, not just to lawyers — who, under the conditional terms of the agreement, are paid for by TC Energy.
Clair Balfour, Meaford
