THE DEATH OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION IN ELMIRA, ONTARIO

What a farce. TAG stands for Tecnical Advisory Group and consists of two co-opted citizens who have long received personal benefits such as employment and paid trips from Chemtura Canada. Also included are curling buddies of the mayor Sandy Shantz. Truly unbelieveable. Meanwhile a total of four CPAC and SWAT members attended the first RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) meeting last week only to learn that the mayor's so called "stakeholders" obviously don't give a crap. One Grand River Conservation Authority member and zero from the Region of Waterloo attended. How pathetic is that when they are replacing dedicated and honest citizen representatives?

Meanwhile even if the public attend these meetings they are not allowed to be Delegates at the TAG meetings. The RAC group will take Delegations but neither they nor TAG will allow questions from the floor. Hence any reports submitted by either the Ministry of Environment or Chemtura are protected from any prying or difficult questions. It is at least reassuring that the only remaining local media have clearly expressed their opinion that these two new committees are impotent and by so design.