Group wants county citizens to be AWARE

Group wants county citizens to be AWARE
By MORGAN IAN ADAMS Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin August 18 2010
A grassroots coalition of citizens’ groups stopped in Collingwood, Saturday morning, to spread a little AWARE-ness.
Whether AWARE Simcoe (Action Watch Affecting Residents Everywhere) message takes root locally, though, remains to be seen.
About 60 people turned out to the meeting in the Father Ellard Centre at St. Mary’s Church. According to cofounder Letty McNeil, that’s a pretty consistent turn-out for the group, which has already several similar meetings across the county.
“On a Saturday morning in the summer, we’re pretty pleased with that,” said McNeil.
The group has its origins in the Site 41 fight; McNeil says she was angered by the county’s approach to dealing with the issue, and the protesters.
“I’ve lost faith in Simcoe County council to make decisions,” she said, noting that in her opinion, county administration has too much sway in decision-making. The local politicians, she says, do a great job, “but they’re too busy being a mayor or deputy-mayor to a lot into their role at county council.”
The group is also concerned with what it sees as a lack of “openness and transparency” at Simcoe County; it’s also encouraging support for municipal council candidates who are committed to protecting water and the environment.
She said it’s up to local voters to “decide if their present representatives fit that description.
The goal is for AWARE’s various local chapters to interview candidates, and potentially endorse them in the Oct. 25 municipal election.
It will then be up to those local groups to stay on top of the people elected to ensure they stick to their promises.
“One of the objectives of the group is to be a watchdog… and take action,” she said. “We’re here for the long haul to bring change to Simcoe County.”
The group’s interim chair Don Morgan also encouraged attendees to “look carefully at the candidates.
“Hopefully we’ll elect individuals who we can trust, who will stand and be accountable,” he said.
The two-hour meeting also featured a brief presentation by Clearview resident Emelia Franks, who is fighting an application by Walker Aggregates to develop a gravel pit west of Duntroon; she, along with the Clearview Citizens Coalition, has standing at the current hearing that’s reviewing the application for the pit.
McNeil said the focus is to get local AWARE chapters into every municipality in Simcoe County; part of Saturdays’ meeting included getting attendees to break into groups to discuss the next step of holding local organizational meetings.
“It doesn’t have to be a big meeting; it could be two people or 20 people–just get started,” she said.
Based on who turned out from Collingwood, it may not be a big meeting; when the groups got together, there were only about six or seven people in the Collingwood group.
Several Collingwood council candidates also showed up, including councillor candidates Keith Hull, Kevin Lloyd and Cheryll Nicholls Jones, mayor candidate and current deputy-mayor Sandra Cooper, and deputy-mayor candidate Rick Lloyd.
There were also council candidates from Wasaga Beach and Clearview, including mayoral candidates Steven Fishman and Chris Vanderkr uys, respectively.
Eric Willis, one of a handful of Collingwood residents, said while there may not be a lot of time — or resources — to undertake the process of interviewing candidates with an eye to endorsing people, a local group could at least encourage people to exercise their democratic right.
“I do think we have time, using social media (such as Facebook) to get the issues identified and the positions of candidates on those issues,” he said. “We can give the basis for people to make an informed vote.
“Ideally it’s about getting as many people to vote as possible; it’s more about encouraging people to vote, and make an informed decision when the vote,” he said.
Collingwood resident and businessowner Peter Zober said he came with a friend to hear what the group was about.
“As a citizen in Collingwood, it’s how it connects to the broader community,” he said, noting he was also concerned with the stories he heard with regard to Site 41.