WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Region awarded "Brownie" for LRT". Are you kidding me? Years after many Regional Councillors reversed their election positions in order to vote in favour of the LRT, angering many regional residents; now you tell us that it was all about the environment. Really?

This story written by Paige Desmond advises us that an organization of industries involved in environmental cleanups has named our LRT project the best large project in Canada. The group are known as the Brownfield Network and I must admit to knowing little about them. Allegedly according to regional staff in 2013 there are hundreds of brownfields (ie. contaminated former industrial/commercial sites) region wide and many are congregated along the downtowns and main corridors of the cities. Councillor Galloway mentioned the Breithaupt Block, the Barrel Yards and the Lang Tannery. While I was aware of the last two the Breithaupt Block was a bit of a surprise. My father retired from the Uniroyal plant on Breithaupt St. in 1980.

If indeed this is true and our regional councillors who moved heaven and earth to sell this project to skeptical residents actually were thinking about brownfield redevelopment; then I am pleasantly surprised. A little skeptical while also surprised. Why not tell us this a long time ago? Why not finally share with us the history of environmental contamination and all those responsible for it over the last 150 years? Why not share with us the extent of remediation that allegedly has been done over the last two years? In fact how about some documentation advising before and after soil concentrations of contaminants etc.? That would certainly back up your story now about all the good this LRT has done in cleaning up these previously mostly very quiet contaminated sites.