Ingersoll Hopes There Is Strength In Numbers

Friday, 12 July 2019 at 07:23

Through a consulting firm from Toronto, the Town of Ingersoll have been asking cities around Ontario to make a motion demanding the right to vote on landfills.

INGERSOLL - The Town of Ingersoll is getting support across the province, asking municipalities to make a motion to have the right to vote on landfills.

The Town has gone through a consulting firm out of Toronto called Campbell Strategies.

Mayor Ted Comiskey says they're going to continue reaching out.

"We're going to continue on this over to Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), so we will have more municipalities getting on board. We will bring awareness to the Ministry of Environment that municipalities demand the right to say yes or no, and should have the right. There is no way that we should be in this area, or any area of Western Ontario, be considered as Toronto's kitty litter and they could just drive down the 401 and dump away. If they cannot look after their own waste then they have to pay attention on where it's going and take it to municipalities that are welcoming to it, and not to municipalities that don't want it."

A poll was sent out to over 1,700 municipalities by the Demand the Right Coalition of Ontario Municipalities.

Comiskey says the survey has generated 325 responses.

"The information is phenomenal. The fact is that there are municipalities, up 27%, who would very much consider having a landfill if their demands were met. And that is if where it was located, if it was totally safe and what was the monetary reward or compensation for having it."

The poll also found that nine out of ten people support for the right to vote on landfills.

Comiskey says 93 municipalities have come on board so far, pushing motions through to the MOE.

He says there is still more work to do, however.

"We're not going to stop. There's over 400 municipalities in the province of Ontario and until a decision is made I'm not going to rest until I have every one of these municipalities agreeing that they have the right. At no time do we say that a municipality should not have a landfill, that's not what the motion is for. The motion is to give the right to say yes or no."