Please Mary, come to our rescue!

Today is a guest blog by Kristin R - a concerned resident of Clarington. She asks some good questions and makes some good points. What do you think? --CW

I was speaking with 2 people today that reside in Courtice. Both expressed their disgust with the proposed incinerator, and said they were going to shoot off some emails to Mary Novak, the Regional Councillor for our Ward. They were both surprised that Mary had not done something about this incinerator project before now.

Hmmm, why hasn’t Mary done anything about it? Last week she voted that she approved accepting the consultant recommendation of Clarington as the preferred site (thank goodness our local councillors voted differently).

We still do not know: the technology, vendor, business plan, where the bottom ash and highly toxic fly ash will go, among other things. The Clarington peer reviewers and staff have demonstrated that the Environmental Assessment done by the consultants is severely flawed. Yet, Mary voted to continue ahead with the ‘process’ in spite of of everything. Even more confusing to me is that Mary sits on Clarington’s Green Community Advisory Committee – I wonder how this incinerator fits into this committee’s mandate?

I am new to the whole local/regional political scene, so I may be way off base. But Mary’s decisions just don’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Nor do they seem to make sense to others in her ward. Mary is obviously a smart woman; she has been involved in politics for many years now and has seen many issues come and go. Please Mary, come to our rescue!

Incineration/Waste Management Forum on January 10

Click on the flyer for a larger view.

This looks like an informative, interesting, and badly needed forum. There has been so much misinformation pushed out at everyone from the consultants and from the Region that it's hard to know what's what. Much of the information is contradictory and some doesn't even pass the most rudimentary sniff test.

Residents have been out there bringing forward documented articles from experts (scientists, doctors, experts in waste management) and the politicians have been turning a deaf ear because they prefer to believe the spin that supports their fondest dream - that of their very own incinerator in Clarington, to burn all that garbage and get it out of sight, out of mind.

Never mind that it does nothing to get people to change bad habits, to work harder to conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle. This is the easy way out - let's just burn it. It is the most expensive way out, and the most risk to health way out, and the most unsustainable way out, but it's the quickest and will make the most money for 'somebody'. Not for residents! But who cares, when the Region is all-powerful and can make the decision without listening to the real experts, or to the residents.

I very much hope that the politicians will attend this forum so they can actually hear more than what they've been listening to so far. If they care a hoot they will attend. They are all being invited and I will make sure to post the names of those who care enough to attend. I will also be sure to post, very prominently, the names of those who don't bother to attend the forum. I am hoping those names will also be listed in the local newspapers (all of Durham and York Regions) and will be listed by the organizers of the forum.

While it is important for our elected (and unelected, Regional Chair Anderson) politicians to make the effort to educate themselves, without excuses, and to show residents they care enough to do so, it is also very important that residents of both regions are aware of which politicians care enough to open their minds a little, and those who don't give a damn and are just content to push forward with their destructive dream of building this incinerator.

I hope to see a lot of residents at this forum, and a lot of politicians - local, regional, provincial and even federal. This affects us all. How much do you care? Enough to take a few hours out of one evening to listen to experts and to ask questions? I certainly hope so.