Breckenridge rebukes Little for attack on SDS41 supporters

By Kate Harries WaterWatch
Another Simcoe County meeting, another outburst from Adjala-Tosorontio Deputy Mayor Doug Little attacking the campaign to get the Site 41 Certificate of Approval revoked.
Little told county council that the supporters are “tiresome,” he’s “frustrated,” he doesn’t want staff wasting time answering questions about the issue – and the C of A stays in place during the new waste strategy process.
It’s a tirade we’ve heard twice before. It’s aimed at silencing questions about why would the county need a C of A that authorizes a landfill site for a property where councillors have promised there will be no landfill site?
This time, the questioner pushed back.
“I really take offence to what Councillor Little just said,” Tiny Mayor Peggy Breckenridge said. “You have just insulted my constituents. Whether they are correct or not, the fact is that this is still happening.”
She pointed out that she’d received 32 emails that morning regarding the C of A and a busload of people went down to Queens Park to support second reading of Garfield Dunlop’s Bill 32, which would revoke the C of A.
“We have to face it,” she said, dismissing a report from Environmental Services director Rob McCullough as inadequate, not sufficiently technical in terms of explaining the winterization and not sufficiently enlightening as to the reasons for retaining the C of A.
Little replied that it was never his intent to insult any county resident, but “the residents will never want to understand this process until the C o A’s pulled – that’s the bottom line.” He added that “eventually, I hope it is.”
There was an indication that the county’s famed communications team would turn its hand to providing answers.
(Breckenridge was one of several municipal politicians who were on hand for the Bill 32 debate at Queens Park – others were George Lawrence, Andre Claire, Nigel Warren and George Cornell of Tiny and Tay Mayor Scott Warnock.)
County approves Genivar deal
County councillors met behind closed doors for an hour and one of the items they approved on emerging from in-camera was an agreement with Genivar regarding Stephen Ogden’s freedom of information request for the MODFLOW calibrated model of the hydrogeology at Site 41.
Details of the agreement between Simcoe County and Genivar were not revealed in public session, but a copy has been published by the Stop Dump Site 41 group. Doug Little told council that the peer review will only be undertaken if the Information and Privacy Commission advises that it would satisfy the applicant.
Not. Ogden’s outraged response to the proposed agreement has also been published. Quite apart from ensuring that the MODFLOW model is not made public, the agreement also severely restricts the information the peer reviewer can obtain from the model.
Tony Guergis wants to be warden again
The veil of gentility that masks the power plays at County Council slipped briefly during the questioning of the two warden candidates – Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson and Springwater Mayor Tony Guergis, who’s aiming for an unprecedented fourth term.
Patterson had just told Bradford West Gillimbury Deputy Mayor Dennis Roughley that phone calls alleging that he would pull the Site 41 C of A were wrong.
Essa Mayor David Guergis (Tony’s brother) then rose to admit “I am one of the people who were making phone calls because I do care about the future of the county.” David Guergis then told Patterson that he was concerned because the two supporters mentioned in the first media coverage of his candidacy were Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier and New Tecumseth Mayor Mike MacEachern.
It should be explained that BWG Mayor Doug White led the charge earlier in the meeting to set up Carrier and MacEachern as the bad guys who have been meeting with the province and other area “urban nodes” leaders about population growth, leaving the county and small municipalities out in the cold.
“It gives me great concern,” David Guergis said, asking if this is the direction Patterson is going in.
“Can I ask you why you wouldn’t call me and ask me that instead of phoning every one else and planting the seed?” an angry Patterson replied.
“To be honest with you, Cal,” David Guergis replied, “you’ve never kept the same position for very long.”
Both Patterson and Tony Guergis said they were running on a platform of restoring confidence in the county. Patterson also promised change. Tony Guergis promised continuity.
Interestingly, Roughley opined that it’s only in the north that there is a crisis of confidence. “I don’t have the same feeling in the south,” he said. There, people are satisfied with their representatives and “they accept the services we give them.”