Chatham-Kent residents are naturally dubious these days.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
York1 is moving full-steam ahead on preliminary work for its proposed landfill/recycling operation near Dresden, despite large opposition from residents, the municipality and area First Nations.
Company officials claim they are following the letters of the law that pertain to the property.
Capstone Infrastructure is in the very, very early stages of seeing if they should establish a new wind farm in East and South Kent. Their open house to solicit feedback from residents earned a one-woman protest and hosted a number of worried citizens.
It appears, at least on the surface, that Capstone is doing everything right in consulting with the public and stressing they are just kicking the tires on the idea at this point. They have not filed a thing with the province.
Yet the public is still wary of anything tied to the term “wind farm.”
At some point one has to wonder, “How did we get here?” Well, it’s pretty darned obvious: The provincial government.
We’re not just talking about the current Doug Ford regime that peeled back the need for an environmental assessment on the York1 property on Irish School Road and forced through Bill 5, which could impact development across the province, putting the corporate desires apparently ahead of the will of the people.
No. We can lump Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne in here too. And we most certainly cannot forget Mike Harris, the man who delivered amalgamation to Chatham-Kent in 1998.
That one move, which on paper showed merit to increase municipal government efficiency, has not delivered support-wise.
And that is an inherent problem with federal and provincial politics. Short term trumps long term. Too often what’s best for the people falls by the wayside.
Keep social service and infrastructure support in line with the rate of inflation, and things could look much different in C-K.
But successive governments, especially ones focused in and around the GTA and other large urban, vote-rich areas, have failed to properly support places such as Chatham-Kent. We have crumbling roads and housing and homeless issues that are in dire need of added funding from senior levels of government.
McGuinty and Wynne brought on the wind turbines, and overpaid in the process. Renewable energy has done nothing to cut our electricity costs.
Plus, it’s mangled a number of wells in North Kent. And any time someone mentions “wind farm” in Chatham-Kent, regardless of where, rural residents are very guarded and extremely concerned.
Stay wary, friends.
