County vision, leadership questioned at waste consultation session

By Kate Harries WaterWatch
WASAGA BEACH – Day 2 of Simcoe County’s public consultation on its waste strategy and residents were calling on councillors to declare what direction they’re going in and take charge of the process.
The pleas went unanswered by those politicians who were present although Stantec consultant Janine Ralph danced around the issue in a display that is becoming all too familiar.
“She’s a wonderful speaker,” one attendee commented, “but I don’t understand a word she says.”
Among the points made:
-Elizabeth Dods called for a vision statement, citing one famous one: “Within 10 years we will put a man on the moon.”
“Couldn’t we go back to Step 1,” she asked, urging that the process involve the community, county administration and steering committee.
A shared vision would rid the process of negative concerns, she said. She also called for the strategy to address environmental values such as the strategy’s carbon footprint and its impact on air, land and water. Ralph said a vision statement has been adopted by county council. It calls for diversion to keep pace with growth, for the county to have secure, effective long-term capacity to process recyclables, and for the county to secure sufficient long-term capacity to process or landfill residual waste. (See ZWS for county vision and Zero Waste Simcoe alternative.)
-Kelly Clune called for leadership. “I’m absolutely appalled to see that you’re not modelling what we the public are supposed to do,” she said, pointing to the plastic bottles and Tim Hortons cups at the panel table.
The County’s Rob McCullough said the Wasaga RecPlex doesn’t have the facility for washable cups to be provided.
Clune expressed doubt that the County would be able to act decisively and introduce bylaws to tackle the waste problem if they couldn’t deal with the RecPlex challenge.
“The County has the power,” she said. “Do they have the political will to do and say what needs to be done? I see no leadership here.”
-Rudy Chernecki suggested that it would be more appropriate to have waste strategy steering committee members at the front of the room, with the consultant available to answer technical questions. “I don’t know why we can’t speak directly to committee members,” he said.
McCullough noted that a number of steering committee members were in the crowd. (Adjala-Tos Deputy Mayor Doug Little, Mark Guthrie from Clearview and John Nychuck from Tiny. Also present were Springwater Deputy Mayor Tony Hope and Clearview Mayor Ken Ferguson.) None spoke publicly.
-Valerie Powell from Oro-Medonte, the Green Party candidate for Simcoe North, said she had a hard time filling out the questionnaire (workbook) that the County has asked residents to complete (by Friday) in order to provide feedback.
The issues are complex, she said, and “if you answer the wrong yes or no, you could be contributing statistically to supporting the wrong direction. It took me almost an hour (to complete) and I don’t think it’s going to help.”
Ralph replied that the intent is to capture everything the public is providing in the comments, and the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers will be examined in context.
Powell said that she has a master’s degree in research and “I do know that all those yes or no’s could get counted… the wording makes it very difficult for the average person as well as the informed person.”
-Elaine Stephenson said the county needs to bring more information forward. “How can I fill out that form?” she asked, pointing to incineration or energy from waste as an option that’s being proposed. “I have no idea of what the implications are of incineration, what the possibilities are out there… How would any of us know if we think it’s a good idea?”
-A resident who immigrated from Europe in 1988 said he feels Simcoe County is only now catching up to waste measures in effect in Europe 22 years ago. He urged the County to “look a little further” than Ontario, or even Canada for good practices. “You don’t have to re-invent the wheel.”