Municipalities Want a Say on Landfills

Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:43

Nearly 140 municipalities across Ontario have passed a motion stating that municipalities should have a say on whether or not they host landfills. The motion started in the Town of Ingersoll.

INGERSOLL - Nearly 140 municipalities across Ontario have passed a motion stating that municipalities should have a say on whether or not they host landfills.

The motion was started by Ingersoll Mayor Ted Comiskey and it states that municipalities deserve the right to say yes or no to landfills. Comiskey says he has since forwarded it every council in the Province.

"I myself have had delegation status for 12 municipalities right now and I have 5 more coming up, but we have received notification that municipalities have passed and have forwarded that motion onto the Minister of Environment Jeff Yurek. We are very excited about that, we hope the Minister recognizes the importance of it and makes a statement."

Comiskey says municipalities deserve the right to say yes or no.

"Municipalities are asked if they want Casino's, windmills, they are asked if they want nuclear waste, which believe it or not, some municipalities will accept it. So we just be asked whether we want landfills in our municipalities."

Comiskey says In no way are we saying that municipalities can't have landfills.

"That is not he direction of the motion, the motion is to say that you should have the right to say yes or no and right now, the way it is set up with the process, that the ministry has put out, that municipalities cannot say no to a landfill that goes through the Environmental Assessment process and goes directly to the Minister and the Minister makes the decision and not the municipality itself."

The motion is in relation to a proposed landfill from Walker Environmental Group that would be built near Ingersoll. That landfill is currently going through the Environmental Assessment process. Comiskey is hopeful that this process will be changed before that landfill is built.

"I do believe that in some point in time, Premier Ford will respect the letter that he forwarded to me a long time ago, stating that these things should not be forced on municipalities and that municipalities should have a greater say."