Zone Township’s Emery Huszka, despite being politely turned aside by a provincial cabinet minister, is happy with the awareness a group of volunteers has raised.
Huszka was one of the people who put together a petition asking that Bothwell and Zone Township be allowed to leave Chatham-Kent and amalgamate with Lambton County.
Robert Flack, the minister of municipal affairs and housing, said the province would take no such action.
“Municipal restructuring is locally driven. Proposals must originate from the councils of the affected municipalities and require meaningful local engagement and consultation,” Flack said in his note to Huszka.
This despite the fact the Mike Harris government forced amalgamation on Chatham and Kent County nearly three decades ago.
Still, Huszka is happy with what has transpired.
“We elevated the discussion. It got a lot of traction in this province. And the discussion benefitted everybody,” he said. “Now, we’re hoping for discussion to take place during the (municipal) election process. I’m looking forward to some real debates coming out of this.”
And that was the goal of the petition – generating interest.
“More people getting engaged is a good thing. We need to draw on the strength of a lot of people in the community. One person doesn’t have all the answers,” Huszka said.
He added he’s seen changes in how the municipality looks at the rural sections of Chatham-Kent.
“Dust suppression is a tiny issue, but it meant a lot to rural residents,” he said. “The fact there was such a broad disconnect that we had to have a debate among the public indicates there is some tone deafness at council.”
In the fall of 2024, during council discussions over the 2025 municipal budget, administration lobbied to remove dust suppression from the budget in order to save more than $1 million annually. However, rural residents were very outspoken on the matter and council opted to pivot and return to applying dust suppression on gravel roads around Chatham-Kent.
“We still need to ask council why aren’t they doing a better job meeting the needs of the residents,” Huszka said.
Huszka said he’s not anti-Chatham-Kent, but rather sees a lot of positives.
“I think the community has a lot of strengths. The rural part of Chatham-Kent adds a lot of value. It brings in a tremendous amount of economic activity. That’s a huge strength for this community.”
He encourages everyone to work together in the future.
“There are some issues. But now that we’ve broken the egg, let’s make the omelette,” Huszka said. “I think there’s some good to be had from this.”
The petition effort began in the fall of 2024. It was delivered by Independent MPP Bobbi Ann Brady of Haldimand-Norfolk to the Legislature in late 2025, and Huszka finally got the reply in late April.
