LOCAL EXPLOITATION OF OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Canada we were taught in school was the land of hewers of wood and drawers of water. Lumber, furs, mineral wealth were what made this country. In recent decades it has of course been oil including tar sands in Alberta. What I am about to present comes courtesy of last Saturday'w Woolwich Observer. I am going to quote from the Observer a statement provided by the Wellington Water Watchers. "Nestle Waters is the world's largest bottled water company, and Wellington County in southwestern Ontario is home to its largest bottling facility in Canada. Nestle pays $3.71 for every million litres of water it pumps from the local watershed, which it then packages in single-use plastic bottles and sells back to the public for as much as $2 million. In 2010, Nestle paid just $2,238 for over 600 million litres of water taken from Mill Creek in Aberfoyle."

Wow! You have to hand it to corporations. If there is a way to make a buck mostly at someone else's expense (ie. the public) they will find it. Another brief article in Saturday's Observer deals with local gravel pits. Woolwich Township have sent a letter to the province reiterating the Townships concerns about the Ontario Municipal Board process which often accompanies gravel pit applications. It is extremely expensive and onerous even for municipalities much less for individuals and nearby residents. Woolwich Township and other municipalities are paid royalties of pennies per tonne which does not even cover the increased costs of wear and tear on our roads inflicted by gravel trucks. Currently here in Woolwich residents are fighting both the proposed Capitol Pit in West Montrose and the Hunder Pit in Conestogo. The Jigs Hollow Pit outside Winterbourne was scrutinized by local residents who did a professional job in exposing flaws and falsehoods all to no avail. Council let them down although I wonder if it was as much the case of Council saving their pennies to fight the other two proposals at the OMB; feeling that they couldn't afford all three. If I'm wrong and Council don't go to the wall for West Montrose and Conestogo then quite frankly this Council is toast in 2014.