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OPAL Responds to Recent Zorra Township Motion

OPAL Chair Bryan Smith is not a fan of a recent motion from Zorra Township Council which supports only host municipalities having a say regarding local landfills.

ZORRA TOWNSHIP - The Township of Zorra has passed a motion in support of only having host municipalities have a say in regards to landfills.

The current Provincial stance, which was updated this summer with Bill 197, allows for any municipality to have a say within 3.5 kilometres of the facility. Here is the exact wording of the motion passed by Zorra Township council in January. 

Moved by Paul Mitchell Seconded by Steve MacDonald
THAT the Township of Zorra agrees with the Town of Amherstburg and supports the resolution passed by the City of St. Catharines on October 5th, 2020 regarding Schedule 6 of Bill 197, COVID 19 Economic Recovery Act 2020;
AND THAT staff send correspondence, including the St. Catharines resolution, confirming our support for giving final approval for landfills within their jurisdiction to the “host municipality” to:
• Premier Doug Ford,
• Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing,
• Jeff Yurek, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks,
• Ernie Hardeman, MPP for the riding of Oxford,
• Town of Amherstburg,
• City of St. Catharines, and
• All municipalities within the County of Oxford.

Mayor Marcus Ryan says this has always been the Township of Zorra's position since the issue first came to light with the Demand the Right coalition.

"This was decided because Zorra Council believes that as with any development the host municipality should decide what is and is not, appropriate development in accordance with it’s zoning, strategic plan, and community input.  However, additionally, Zorra has always recognized that in the case of a proposed development that is so large and has potentially far reaching consequences that Zorra should consult more broadly. To that end Zorra created the Joint Municipal Coordinating Committee and invited Ingersoll, South-West Oxford, and Oxford County to join and participate to ensure a fair environmental assessment process that fully considers the economic, social, cultural, environmental, health and other impacts of the proposed landfill on our communities."

Oxford People Against the Landfill Chair Bryan Smith however finds the motion odd, noting that Ingersoll and it's Mayor Ted Comiskey have always been big opponents of the proposed Walker Landfill.

"I was a bit baffled by why they would do that, as Zorra Township was one the partners in the announcement of Bill 197 and in particular in that portion that gave 3 local municipalities a right to say yes or no to it, knowing that anyone of them saying no would stop the dump. I'm baffled as to why they would reopen the discussion into that bill."

Smith says he's not sure why Zorra Council would entertain this, knowing that this motion came from municipalities with Walker Landfills.

"I wonder why St. Catherine's and Amherst, the home sites of two other Walker facilities would move this in the first place because they are already involved in significant waste management and I guess in the long term are involved in the problems we are trying to avoid."

Mayor Ryan was asked directly if this motion was put in place to potentially block other municipalities from stopping the landfill from happening. 

"I'm aware that people think all kinds of nefarious things about myself and Zorra Council, past and present. All I can say is that once you get elected to these jobs, you have an actual job description and my job is to do what's best for the people of Zorra and that means that I think that for this development, any other proposed development that the people of Zorra should be the ones to decide whether a thing happens or not and that is to say whether it happens or not should be up to the people of Zorra. I am confident in Zorra Council and the residents of Zorra to make the decision that they want to make and I think they should be the ones making it." 

Heart FM asked the Mayor if he is in support of the Walker Landfill.

"Ingersoll, Zorra and all Oxford County councils have been advised by legal council and as far as I know are all still following that advice and not publicly stating whether they would say yes or no at this point, because we don't want to damage our ability to say yes or no at the appropriate time by stating it at an inappropriate time."

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