Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to the article in the Sept. 24 issue of the Eganville Leader: Mayor frustrated with lack of vocal opposition at conference.
Thank you Mayor Jennifer Murphy of Bonnechere Valley Township for having the guts to speak out and voice your concerns.
There is strength in numbers, but when you are the only lone soldier willing to stand up to the province, this concerns me greatly that you cannot get the support behind you from the rest of the Renfrew County mayors and reeves.
This only confirms to me that they have not read or do not understand their own legislation. Once a municipality has been created by “Letters Patent” (a statutory instrument), it does not “belong” to the province, it is a separate corporation from the province. Therefore, the province cannot dictate to them what they can and cannot do, it can only suggest.
The mayors and reeves are elected officials who have sworn an oath to protect the interests of the people they represent. For them to remain silent on these very dangerous issues is definitely not protecting the peoples’ interests.
We (Ontario Landowners Association), too, have tried to speak to Renfrew County and our local council about our concerns with the Endangered Species Act and the new Provincial Policy Statement that are designed by the province to stop growth and development in rural Ontario and they respond with a blank look.
I haven’t been able to figure out if they don’t understand it, or they simply don’t care.
Come on you elected officials — wake up and look around you. If you are not going to speak up for the people, then now is the time to step down and let somebody else take a stand and actually do something to stop the death of rural Ontario.
Donna Burns
Haley Station
President – Renfrew Chapter of
Ontario Landowners Association
Candidate for Councillor –
Whitewater Region Township
