By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
While Jackie Beatty admits there are problems between Bothwell and Chatham-Kent, she doesn’t think it’s time to break up.
“I would like to work on the relationship before we get a divorce,” said the long-time community booster. “How can we fix it?”
Beatty’s comments come in response to questions about a petition currently circulating that’s calling on the province to “release” Bothwell and the former Zone Township, so it can once again become part of Lambton County, to which it was originally attached more than a century ago.
Following decades of being its own entity as part of Kent County, it was forced by the province to join the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998, along with 21 other communities that comprised Kent County.
Its citizens have managed to keep the spirit of the close-knit community alive by coming together to handle misfortune – such as the recent fire – by supporting one another.
That being said, Beatty said there are problems associated with a single-tier system like the one the Ontario government imposed on Chatham-Kent during the Harris government’s “Common Sense Revolution.”
Two-tier systems run better, Beatty added, noting members of a small council have a vested interest when they make decisions.
“They live there and work there,” she said.
“The fact is they’re (Chatham-Kent) trying to run us as a city,” she explained. “They keep talking about our rural roots but we’re treated like an urban area.”
The threat of cuts to services such as the library and fire department are a perennial concern, Beatty claimed. Cuts to rural road services and the fact East Kent may soon lose one of its seats at the council table have fuelled dissension in the community.
In her professional life, Beatty has worked with officials at the municipality who try hard.
“Council and staff are all good people who try to do the best for everybody,” she said, noting the problem is that it’s not a good system.
The creation of community councils in C-K’s rural communities aimed at working with the municipality could be a step in the right direction, she added.
Beatty said she’s not sure how the Ontario government will respond to Bothwell’s request, noting it could open “a can of worms.
“We don’t want to ostracize ourselves from Chatham-Kent, because we’re all in this weird soup together. We want to feel like we’re a community of communities. I can’t see putting the genie back in the bottle.”
Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff echoed Beatty, calling Bothwell a “close-knit community with a rich history.”
He said that while he supports the rights of residents to petition, he stands firm in “wanting Bothwell to remain an important part of our community.”
Canniff said he’ll be working with East Kent councillors Morena McDonald and John Wright to identify and address “the potential root-cause issues at play here.
“I want to see Bothwell prosper, which means I would not support the closure of Bothwell’s arena or any other municipally owned facilities in rural areas throughout Chatham-Kent,” the mayor said. “Now more than ever it is evident that Bothwell needs strong support, which Chatham-Kent offers, and I am committed to ensuring that happens through both council action and municipal administrative support.”
Officially, there’s been no talk of Bothwell-Zone joining forces with Lambton County, according to that county’s warden, Kevin Marriott.
“At this point, it’s not been part of the discussion,” Marriott said, noting Chatham-Kent’s elected officials would have to start the ball rolling.
“We haven’t talked about it yet,” he added. “Doing that is not going to be easy. First Chatham-Kent would have to agree, then the province would have to agree. All of this would have to happen before it comes to us.”
