Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following Opinion piece from Luisa D'Amato titled "A harsh truth embedded in Wilmot's gravel pit decision". Luisa's harsh truth is that what is the point in having municipal councillors when they have so little power over the things that are so important to us. She is of course referring to Doug Ford's crappy Bill 23 enacted last year which gives the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) more authority to dismiss appeals as well as order costs against the losing party. This likely has created a chilling effect on municipalities including Wilmot to step in and say no to new gravel pits and other undesirable development and zone changes.
The OLT is the successor to the properly reviled OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) which was notorious for siding with developers and gravel pit proponents. Wilmot councillors may yet pay the price for their rollover however as citizens can forget many flaws but promising to block a rezoning from agricultural to aggregate during an election campaign and then doing the opposite is pretty much unforgiveable.
The question in my mind is will this affect Woolwich councillors and their support for citizens in Maryhill who are trying to stop a new gravel pit around their corner. Woolwich councillor Bonnie Bryant is made of sterner stuff and I expect that she will keep her Council colleagues feet to the fire on this one. Time as always will tell.
Township and Regional Councils ARE ALWAYS SETUP RIGHT AFTER FIRST becoming elected by the staff (who were never chosen or elected by the people) and the corporations/special individuals looking for favors because of new elections being years away (they are relying on the public's memory diminishing with time) .
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