DEMOCRACY: THE FIRST CASUALTY OF POLITICS

Jigs Hollow Pit Example

Yesterday's Woolwich Observer updates us on the Jigs Hollow pit application with this front page story "Deal would allow Jigs Hollow gravel pit to go ahead". The citizens battling this proposed gravel pit such as Lynne Hare and Jan Huisson started out several steps behind the starting line two years ago courtesy of the old lame duck Council approving this pit after they had been voted out of office. The Friends of the Winterbourne Valley went into high gear and although I've only seen some of their verbal and slide presentations at Council, I've been duly impressed. They have documented all kinds of anomolies in which the proponents have said one thing and the facts speak otherwise. They have shared concerns of residents both in Winterbourne and those on Golf Course Rd. in Conestogo.

It looked like they had sucessfully taken the recycling operation off the table with the research they had done regarding concrete dust health issues. It now appears to no avail as Council and the Region have reached a deal with the proponent Kuntz Topsoil, sand & Gravel. There have been many different speakers at Council against this issue which was a good thing. Unfortunately as is common and normal every single Woolwich resident who will be adversely affected by this pit and recycling operation was not in Council chambers for every single meeting. That's how essentially biased and undemocratic legislation regarding the aggregate industry usually prevails. This unfair and undemocratic legislation is intentional and rarely beaten. Woolwich Council and the Region know this. Items such as sunset clauses and vertical zoning are needed but the province and the Ministry of Natural Resources are resisting. Keep clearly in mind just as the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has long been captured by industrial polluters so has the MNR been the aggregate industry's biggest booster.

A year or two ago I suggested that I thought that the folks at West Montrose (Bridgekeepers) and in Conestogo (Hunder Pit) could win their cases. I based this on organization, numbers and the activism of many residents. Here in Elmira we had one hundred people come out to a public protest regarding the proposed Bio Energy facility in town. Despite this Council eventually gave their approval. In hindsight I think what is needed is one hundred people attending every single meeting public or private. Our Councillors need to know that when they spend township money fighting for the rights of Woolwich residents it's not just for a handful of the most dedicated and hardworking ones. They need to realize that all of Woolwich suffers from these assaults upon our citizens. To date they get it in regards to Chemtura. Bio-En and the Jigs Hollow Pit are bad news. Up to bat still is the Hunder Pit (Conestogo) and the Capitol Paving Pit (West Montrose). This Council got elected to serve the citizens not the aggregate industry nor the polluters.