Christmas presents for Oshawa
Well, it is finally the holiday season, and families will be gathering around their Christmas trees on Friday morning to see what Santa Claus has brought for them. While the city may not have a collective Christmas tree, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a wish list of gifts that would be beneficial for the residents of Oshawa and its surrounding municipalities.
Last week saw AG-13-09, one of the most famous city reports in Oshawa’s history, come back into discussion, with councillors voting to approve the secretive “Option 1,” which later turned out to mean to keep secret the confidential attachments to former Auditor General Ron Foster’s report on the purchase of the property that would later become the city’s consolidated operations depot. The purchase of this property has been a topic of debate for the past several years in this city, and at times it feels like there are more questions than answers. For Christmas, perhaps we will finally learn the truth as to what happened with that transaction.
Our neighbours to the east, Clarington, are currently contending with the Durham York Energy Centre. The operators of the multi-million dollar facility, already more than a year late, will soon learn whether they can put the incinerator into commercial production, or if they will have to run the acceptance testing all over again. In fact, this decision may already be known by the time you read this newspaper, with the final announcement due to come at about the same time The Express goes to press. For Christmas this year, and many years after, perhaps Santa will help keep this trash-burning facility accountable and transparent. At this point, the region is stuck with it, so the best we can hope for is that exceedances or any potential problems are dealt with openly and appropriately. With millions of dollars spent already, the region’s residents can’t afford – both financially and healthwise – to have things kept hush hush.
The students of Oshawa Central High School will also be hoping for a Christmas present of their own in the news that their school can be kept open. Downtown students need a school that’s close to home and their community, and shouldn’t be bussed to the other side of the city in order to receive an education. There are other options the Durham District School Board can consider when it comes to the future of the school, including redirecting students from other local schools entering high school to go there.
The Oshawa Express will be back on Jan. 6, where we will look back at the year that was 2015. From all of us here in the newsroom, have a safe and happy holidays!