Public Excluded from Incinerator Groundbreaking Ceremony
August 5, 2011
Having just received my personal invitation as the Local Councillor for Ward 3, Clarington from “Durham Regional Chair and CEO Roger Anderson, York Regional Chair and CEO Bill Fisch and Members of Durham and York Regional Councils” to the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Durham-York “Energy Center” next Wednesday, August 17th, I was shocked to discover that the event is “by invitation ONLY”.
Indeed, any (invited) public officials who would like to attend this joyous occasion must RSVP by a certain date in order to receive a “groundbreaking pass” which is, according to the invitation, “required to gain entrance to the event”.
As an avid fan of AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, I am familiar with the process of obtaining passes to see my favourite bands perform in select, privately-owned concert venues.
The incinerator, however, is being constructed on public land by two public co-owners, Durham and York Regions. The Co-Owner’s Agreement was, in fact, just signed last week. I am outraged that, were it not for my political designation, I would be prohibited from attending the opening ceremony for the biggest economic development project in the area.
What if a taxpaying citizen of Durham Region wanted to attend the event? Surely the groundbreaking ceremony of a facility that has been announced to such fanfare by Durham and York Regions would be something that should be promoted and made accessible to the public?
I am sure that, given the extensive assurances that have been made to Clarington residents promising ”state of the art” emissions control technology and the utmost public safety precautions (see my blog post on how a motion asking for Clarington’s monitoring requests to be addressed went at Durham Region), the organizers of the event wouldn’t have deliberately excluded the public because of concerns over some kind of ”demonstration” by residents who are opposed to the project being staged in the vicinity against the EFW. Even if such a concern were present, I am am also confident that event organizers would never have adopted such a heavy-handed and anti-democratic approach to stifle public dissent.
Finally, I ask, why issue security passes to select, privileged invitees and restrict access to the taxpayers who are not only footing the $300 million bill (of which a portion has been covered by federal “gas tax” money that should have been allocated towards public road maintenance) but who are also, technically, EFW Owners?
As the Local Councillor for Ward 3, I would, personally, like to invite every member of the public who would like to attend this momentous occasion to join me on August 17, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Durham-York Incinerator.
Invitees are asked to assemble at 72 Osborne Road, Courtice and for more details, you may view your own copy of the invitation here. I look forward to seeing many fellow public “Co-Owners” help launch our “fiery” new $300 million dollar investment.
