CHEMTURA CANADA & M.O.E.C.C. BACKDOOR EFFORTS

Lobbying is not illegal. Private, secret meetings with municipal councils are a no-no. A routine no-no however with little real oversight or accountability. Many municipalities avoid scrutiny by the Ombudsman by electing to have a group (LAS) within the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) determine whether they are living up to the rules demanding public meetings with very limited legitimate reasons for in camera meetings.

That said all of this can be avoided simply by meeting with for example the Mayor, Chief Administrative Officer and possibly a Councillor on their own. Hence no secret meeting of Council. Back in the good old days Uniroyal Chemical had their own employees on Council. Talk about a company town.

I've been writing about the terror being inflicted upon both Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.C.C.) by a half dozen citizen volunteers here in Elmira and Woolwich Township. The Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) have been discovering and exposing the truth about massive discharges of Dioxins (Agent Orange) and DDT off the east side of the Chemtura property. This discharge appears to be ongoing; no longer by intentional active discharges from the now defunct east side pits but via storm and flood scouring of the south-east floodplain area encompassing both Chemtura's and their neighbour's property. The neighbour's property has been the unfortunate likely recipient of these chemicals from Uniroyal/Chemtura according to Peter Gray of MTE Consultants.

Pressure is being put upon the citizens representatives (ie. CPAC) by a couple of Council members. Is the rest of the new Council aware of this and do they approve? Our new Mayor based upon her sparkling personality, winning smile and willingness to talk with everybody has the potential to go a very long way in politics. I have long said that she has the tools to be the next Liz Witmer plus and could eventually be Premier of this province. Provided of course that her desire to make nice and promote peace and harmony at all costs doesn't mean make peace and harmony with parties whose self interest is grossly contrary to the public interest. That means Mayor Shantz that your current CPAC who are voluntarily working in the public interest should not be undermined or comprimised for the sake of promoting peace with either the corporate self interest of Chemtura in Elmira nor the pathetic, incompetent Ministry of the Environment.

You are going to have to choose and decide who is working on behalf of the public. Is it a thrice convicted world class polluter and their in-bed regulator (M.O.E.) or is it six unaffiliated Woolwich residents living in Elmira donating their time trying to restore both the drinking water and the environment? These six professionals have treated both Chemtura and the M.O.E. far more respectfully than the other way around. These six CPAC members do not fib, exaggerate or minimize issues the way the other two parties do.

Five of the six Council members have attended at least one of the last two CPAC meetings. That is to your credit. Now suck it up and attend a couple more. Insist that both Chemtura and the M.O.E. attend. Watch and listen. There are ten meetings per year or fourty during the last four years and do you think one meeting with Chemtura present and one meeting with neither Chemtura nor the M.O.E. present is representative of CPAC meetings? See you on Thursday January 29 at 6 pm..