Watchers to Nestle: This Ain’t
Over
After a disappointing permit renewal that
will see Nestle Waters draw precious H20 from the aquifer in Aberfoyle for
another five years, many observers expected the Wellington Water Watchers, at
least, to keep up the fight. But a short deadline on the appeal, as it turns
out, is only one of the reasons why the WWW opted out of further action.
“The Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR)
system is flawed, and we have decided there is no point in participating in a
process that appears to be a window-dressing exercise,” explains Mike Nagy, a
WWW Board member in a press release. Nagy cites the fact that his organization
was excluded from a March 24th technical meeting as an example. “The
MOE should have been leading these meetings and ensuring that all stakeholders
were invited and able to attend,” Nagy adds. “It’s obvious to us that ‘the
proponent’ has a vested interest in keeping specific parties – particularly those
seeking restrictions – from participating.”
In it’s response to Nestle’s permit
renewal, the Watchers were pushing for the Ministry of Environment to deny
their request, or at the very least set in place measures through which the
amount of water Nestle is allowed to draw, 3.6 million litres daily, to be
rolled back on an annual basis. The only concession the Ministry made in the
end was to only renew the permit for five years rather than Nestle’s request
for 10. Regardless of the defeat Nagy says that he, and the other Watchers,
will indeed be watching Nestle for those five years.
“We’re not going away,” he adds. “We’ll
continue to do everything we can to protect our watershed, and to properly
regulate this wasteful, unnecessary industry.”
Meet Greens
Having trouble deciding between who would
best represent the local Green Party in this fall’s provincial election, then
maybe getting up close and informal with them will change your mind. Both Mike
Salisbury and Steve Dyck will available live and in person at the Hallman Room
in Dublin Street United Church from 7 till 9
pm tonight. The setting is informal,
and you don’t already have to be coloured Green to enter. “We are very excited
to have a contested candidacy, a sign of our strength and momentum toward
electing a Guelph Green MPP,” says a post on the Guelph Green website. “The
next Provincial election is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2011 so
we have 6 months to learn from past election campaigns and move The Greens
forward in Ontario.” The Green candidate will be selected at the party’s AGM on June 7th.
Everything Falls Apart
In a rare and almost improbable move, the
city closed seven "high risk" structures last Friday out of safety
concerns. They include the standalone washroom buildings at Silvercreek Park, Margaret Greene Park, Hanlon Creek Park and Norm Jary Park, as well
as the combination washroom/concession buildings at Exhibition Park and Riverside Park and the
Riverside Bandshell. This is after the grandstand at Hastings Stadium was
closed for safety concerns as well. What's the problem? Mario Petricevic, the
city’s general manager of corporate building maintenance, says that the issue
is the buildings' roofs, or rather the anchors that keep those roofs fastened
to the walls of the buildings in sever wind. There are 34 buildings in the City
that are deemed "high risk" and although the engineer didn't order
the closure of those seven facilities, the City felt it necessary to act with
an abundance of caution. In this year's budget, the City put aside $1.3 million
for building repair. Some of the buildings will be able to be fixed right away,
others have such extensive damage they'll need to be sent out for tenure.
Bean Lands at a New Location
It might be a Planet Bean before too long
at this rate as a third Planet Bean location is set to open in the city’s south
end. The new Bean will be based out of 1467 Gordon St.,
on the west side of Gordon halfway between Arkell and Clair roads, and
according to the now-minted coffee chain’s co-founder, co-owner and head of
marketing, Bill Bennett, expansion into the southside was a no-brainer. “We’re
like coffee missionaries,” he told the Guelph Mercury. “We feel like south Guelph is devoid of
excellent coffee, so we have to bring flavour to the people of south Guelph,” The
original Bean opened in downtown Guelph in 1998, and its second location opened on Grange Road in
2006. So congratulations to the Planet Bean team on their continued success.
Good to the last drop, I should say.
No comments:
Post a Comment