It’s time for the truth on ethanol
The tension at the Port Authority’s annual general meeting could have been cut with a pair of scissors; not that it would have helped alleviate the frustration and anger of local residents and politicians alike.
Like everyone else in Oshawa, the group seated inside the hotel conference room were expecting answers about the ethanol plant, a plan that has been in the planning stages for years. Yet, sticking to the same diatribe it has been spewing these past few years, the Port Authority would not utter much more than “no comment” about the proposed facility, only saying they are currently in arbitration with FarmTech Energy.
According to the Port Authority, the public is not entitled to know even the basic details about the process, such as how things got to this point, why the development (approved in 2012) now needs lawyers to settle the score and how long this has been going on.
That is not good enough.
The people of this city deserve to know the future of their waterfront, they deserve to know why this process has taken so long, and they deserve to know why the federal entity feels it has the right to keep them in the dark.
Mayor John Henry, Councillor Nester Pidwerbecki and the other councillors in attendance at the meeting deserve some respect for continuing to stand up against this issue, pushing back against a force that is intent on bowling them over, no matter how loud they protest.
The Port Authority has dug itself into a deep hole, and it would seem it knows it.
Gary Valcour, chair of the authority’s board, did everything but openly insult residents who put questions to him, at one point ordering a resident to get better glasses in order to read the financial statements, and blatantly ignore poignant questions about the port’s operations.
It is time for a change. The people and politicians of this city deserve to know what is happening on this issue.
More than anything else, they deserve to hear that they have won – that no ethanol will be coming to Oshawa’s waterfront.