BEHIND THE SCENES LOBBYING GOING ON

Public meetings are for show; debate and decisions are done privately. This is nothing new although it's taken me close to two decades to understand this basic human condition. Municipal Councils are a prime example as is our local Regional Council. How many years of studies, discussion and arm twisting went on behind the scenes concerning LRT (light rail transit) before word one was spoken publicly at Regional Council? How much lobbying/promises of support for pet issues of recalcitrant Councillors has there been to assure a majority in favour BEFORE the public even knew it was on the Agenda? This is the secret joy of politicians, namely being "in the know" before the rest of the masses ever have a clue.

Thus in hindsight it has become obvious to me that private discussions around the subversion of public consultation were ongoing before the very first public UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meeting ever took place. These discussions would of necessity had to include the powers that be; namely the Ministry of the Environment, Woolwich Council reps, Regional Council reps, and Uniroyal. Not for a moment do I believe these private meetings were conducted in an atmosphere of blatant self serving partisanship. More likely they were promoted as we the voted representatives of the citizens are so clearly superior in our knowledge and understanding of the big picture that we mustn't let the hysterical public overreact to this crisis of the day. We will manage all aspects of pretend public consultation so that we can not lose control. We know best what needs to be done and public consultation is simply there to put the stamp of approval on what we've already decided. To this end we will give recognition, credit and honours on those who play ball with us and we will do our utmost behind the scenes to undermine and discredit those we cannot control. Subtlty is what the art of politics is all about.

This I am certain is what happened. The powers that be were terrifed of any organized, intelligent citizen activism and opposition to their control. APT Environment under the leadership of Susan Rupert were exactly what they could not tolerate. In the early days the Ministry of the Environment were intimidated by many APTE members including myself; not because we were throwing rocks but because we were throwing facts, information and truth at them. We could not be "controlled". This became their number one priority. It wasn't to clean up the water and the soil which half a century of neglect and complacency had destroyed in Elmira. It was to "manage" the opposition and they suceeded. It was done slowly and carefully and with subtlty. What human being would not be inflated by personal attention from Mayors, Regional Chairs, Councillors and Provincial Ministers and the media? Attention was carefully paid to which individuals seemed most susceptible to these kinds of attentions.

The powers that be including our old Municipal Council were extremely pleased with the results. It took private discussions and negotiations while publicly proclaiming the preeminence of public consultation. They sucessfully co-opted the public and APTE without the rank and file much less the "co-ordinaters" even being aware. Look at the goals of source removal of Dioxins and Dnapls. Look at hydraulic containment "in all aquifers". Look at the sucessful hiding of off-site contamination of the Municipal Aquifer by Nutrite for a decade and by Varnicolor, Borg and others to this day. The wholesale removal of the old Council (less one) has destroyed the status quo and harmony of the power structure. They are not amused and they are reacting. What is amusing is that those they have propped up and supported secretly are now publicly getting into bed with them. They are all back lobbying privately including at the Township level. Our new Councillors may or may not know it but they are being approached to see if they are malleable or flexible. Are they really green or merely "pretend" green? Thus the circle continues.