Plus Ca Change

Elections and politicians always play on the idea that things will change radically, if only we voted for the right person/Party/policy, etc. Then we see people like Bob Rae take office in Ontario and then apparently contradict everything his party is supposed to stand for as soon as they take office. Of course he went from being NDP to Liberal since then, so perhaps ideology or principle had little to do with that. In North Grenville, we've had the same four Councillors re-elected last October, and nothing has changed with them. It seems people think that the important thing is to get elected, to have the name “Councillor”, to win the seat. But the real reason to get elected, surely, is to be a Councillor, to act like one. That means having ideas, initiative, vision, and then making decisions.

Instead, what we get is the same list of excuses, the same simple following of staff recommendations. I am thinking in particular here of the whole Acton's Corners/Heritage non-debate we've been having recently. Council appeared, at least, to listen to the public on the issue. The heard from members of the Heritage Advisory Committee, from members of the Historical Society executive, as well as from concerned citizens. They then completely ignored what they heard, and went ahead with what staff recommended anyway. Two excuses were offered: “we have to think of the taxpayers”, and “we can't go against staff recommendations”. Well, all those who turned up to Council and asked that they not sell the property are taxpayers. It is our property and our money. But we're not even allowed know who is buying the property, or what they intend to do with it. In whose interests are Council acting? As for supporting staff: here's a shock for council: you can decide for yourselves. Staff are not experts in everything, and they don't always (often?) Get it right. This case, in particular, showed that. Staff managed to have this property declared surplus to requirements, put on the market, and rezoned for sale, without realising that they didn't actually own it! What they missed for more than a year and a half was discovered by heritage supporters in a short time. When the property was transferred from the School Board to Oxford-on-Rideau in 1995, there was a clause stating that, once it was no longer needed for municipal purposes, it would revert to the Board. This rather important point was missed by most of the Municipal staff. CAO Andy Brown defended the sale of the property by making arguments that were irrelevant, and ignoring the arguments made by opponents of the sale. Either he didn't understand the arguments they had made, or he had no real answers to them and had to fall back on pointless comments.

The sale of Acton's Corners will be appealed, but the sale may go ahead and we may lose a unique heritage asset in North Grenville. This will certainly be a breach of the Municipality's own Official Plan, and possibly of their responsibilities under the Ontario Heritage Act. Do they even understand that? In the discussion of the issue, Council claimed that they would love to save every heritage building. I would be satisfied if they tried to save one or two. Perhaps this mess will encourage them in future to work with the community to protect the Oxford Mills Town Hall, and give real support to history and heritage projects in their municipality. Whatever happens, Council and staff have once again unnecessarily upset and alienated part of their community. It has been handled as badly as the infamous Oxford Mills landfill fiasco. It could be so easily avoided if they would just include the public, and interested parties, earlier in the process. Instead of forcing people to react to decisions and plans, perhaps those we elect to represent us would be willing to ask our opinion and then respect it at least as much as that of municipal staff. At least we all live in North Grenville.

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