Dear Editor,
Last week, Christmas came early to Meaford. On July 27, council voted to accept a $4-million gift from Calgary-based TC Energy over the next three years.
The funds effectively give Meaford an unprecedented present- $1.35 million a year or a six per cent boost in municipal revenue. At the meeting, CAO Shawn Everitt assured councillors and members of the public in attendance that the money comes with no strings attached. But that’s not exactly how this Pre-Development Agreement reads – or as much of it as has been made public for taxpayers to understand.
Three million dollars of the funds are subject to the municipality making “reasonable efforts to prioritize initiatives connected to or in support of” the company’s contentious $9.8 billion pumped storage project proposed for defence department land on the escarpment west of town. The company also gets to approve money intended for Meaford’s recreation fund. And its proposal to pay for five scholarships turns out to be aimed only at those pursuing skilled trades – careers that are in short supply for any such construction mega-project.
You might have been able to search out those provisions in a 13-page document prepared by municipal staff that was part of council’s July 27 agenda. But a note in tiny type at the end of an appendix says the actual agreement remains confidential.
Why the secrecy? Secret negotiations and manoeuvers have been the hallmark of this project ever since former mayor Barb Clumpus withheld the first news of it from her own councillors for six months at TC Energy’s request.
Even now, this council gave the public less than a week – in fact three business days – to consider or comment on this $4-million handout agreement that turns out to have been under negotiation for months. Other items on the same council agenda, such as a speed-limit proposal, were deferred to allow for public consultation. But no such consideration was given to this agreement on a project so colossal and so controversial that it has divided the municipality.
Despite overwhelming public opposition expressed at a council meeting in February 2023 – a meeting with such an enormous turnout that it had to be moved to Meaford Hall – the current council voted 5-2 to become a ‘Willing Host’ for the project, a requirement of Ontario legislation. That vote was conditional on environmental assessment and negotiation of a Municipal Benefits Agreement. Now, three years later, no benefits agreement has been drafted, let alone nailed down, and the only environmental assessment will be by the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which has just begun a process estimated to last at least another three years.
So, why the rush for TC Energy to play Santa in July? For a corporation contemplating a $9.8 billion project – against which opposition has steadily grown – these must be uncertain times. With another election only three months away, the company’s fate may well lie in the hands of a newly elected council that might not look as favourably on its plans – or might even succumb to the mounting pressure to reverse Meaford’s 2023 ‘Willing Host’ vote. Could it be that TC Energy needed a pre-emptive insurance policy against such a change of heart?
If so, it couldn’t have found a better version than the Pre-Development Agreement, which effectively ties the hands of any future council elected in October. That may not be spelled out in so many words but what new councillor would want to – or dare – turn down the gift of $1.3 million in annual revenue that could make a difference to repairs at the local arena or other municipal infrastructure?
Despite the CAO’s insistence that the money “in no way, shape or form ties future council’s hands,” gifts do provoke the expectation of gratitude and sometimes hint at the promise of more to come. In this case, there’s still the carrot of a Municipal Benefits Agreement being dangled ahead – perhaps for some future Christmas in July.
Clair Balfour, Meaford
