[All] City passes the buck to the GRCA

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Hi folks
It was 10:30 pm by the time the Highland Issue came up as represented by Alisa who did a very clear, comprehensive overview on the associated risks etc. Super presentation. The council members stated they shared her concerns but then they went and did the most bizarre thing. Instead of simply approving a simple motion to ask the MOE minister to request an EA process from Cabinet, as many municipalities have already done, they chose to approve a motion to write a letter to the GRCA to ask them to ask the MOE to request an EA process on the Highland Quarry.
Karen Scian literally stated, "All the technical stuff is over our heads" and I believe it was Mark Whaley who stated, "the GRCA has more expertise to be able to request that the MOE minister do this." The city stated they didn't have the expertise to give comment on this. 
Alisa clarified for staff that the request need not be long or complicated. Just a simple request on a one page letter would do simply to support better data. It would be a good show of support on the part of the city for the community of Melancthon, that she would actually help them craft the letter if need be and provide similar letters from other municipalities to show council what the format is like. City Council refused her request to adopt that idea and in the end, the motion was made to pass the buck to the GRCA to respond to the ministry.(Which they already did!)
Personally speaking, I'm at a loss. I don't trust the fact that Stantec and aggregate industries are among their most generous sponsors. The GRCA already submitted their opinion on the matter. For them to contact the ministry on behalf of the city may reduce their efforts to simple hearsay. Why the city simply cannot support the simple request seems outrageous. 
Am I wrong on this? Is there something I'm missing in this?  I'm very tempted to write a heated letter but I'd rather get my facts straight first before I say anything public. What vantage could there be in getting the GRCA to write the MOE minster on behalf of the city to request the EA process? 
Lulu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20110627/ab219903/attachment.html>