Editor,
It was the annual February giveaway.
Council called a meeting, dozens of taxpayers showed up. A number of them made deputations — in their allotted and tightly controlled five minutes — and then Council did exactly what TC Energy asked it to do — for the second time in a year.
Last week, Council stripped opposition voices from a citizens’ committee open to all voting-age members of the municipality, designed by its own staff and approved by Mayor Kentner and Deputy Mayor Keaveny, because TCE didn’t want them.
Exactly a year earlier, TCE threatened there would be no municipal benefits to Meaford unless Council agreed to be a willing host to its multi-billion dollar pumped storage project. At that time, Council ignored 3,300 signed names on a petition and all opposition voices at a special Meaford Hall session to give the Alberta-based pipeline company just what it wanted.
Last week’s giveaway saw representatives of Save Georgian Bay and those living in the danger zone below the proposed high-hazard dam — as well as the Chamber of Commerce – lose their representation. Fortunately, a seat designated for someone under age 25 didn’t get the chop.
This is supposed to be a committee for the community, proposed last summer and put together by staff along with Mr. Kentner and Ms. Keaveney and a representative from Grey County, to create a public forum to assess pluses and minuses of the project and “to ensure that all stakeholders are represented.”
No one objected to it — not even TCE — at least not until a February 9 letter arrived from the company demanding “a collaborative and transparent dialogue” about the terms of reference — and a seat on the committee. That dialogue may or may not have been transparent with Council. It certainly was not shared with the community.
The public blowback was immediate against the idea of TCE having a seat. Council quickly realized that request wouldn’t fly. No committee could consider the project freely if TCE was a member. The company has always had non-stop direct communication with staff and Council and should have no place on a citizens’ committee.
But those behind-the-scenes conversations with TCE seem to have prompted some creative thinking: If TCE wasn’t to be on the committee, neither should there be any voices of opposition. Thus two groups that have researched the project for more than four years — complete with engineers and an environmental study — are silenced.
Just to be sure the company side would be represented strongly in the committee, Council then decided to double its own representation on the committee and even opened the way for a Councillor to become committee chair. That should make TC Energy happy.
As of the past weekend, no one actually knew how the chair would be chosen. Draft terms of reference say non-voting councillors could actually vote for the chair. No, says the CAO. He reads it differently but agrees that a councillor could become the chair. So much for a fair and balanced committee — and nailing down an effort meant to give taxpayers the rightful impression they were being heard.
Opposition voices — including that of Save Georgian Bay — need to be assured a seat on this community committee. Otherwise, all those machinations by Council make it hard to believe Meaford has not simply become a company town.
Clair Balfour, Meaford
