CORNWALL Ontario – Unsurprisingly work recommences at the Trillium Distribution Cornwall Inc. site. Despite rallies, petitions and a clear message to the politician’s our voices have gone unheeded.
At root is Mayor Kilger and Council’s refusal to speak to the issue of the Mayor’s press release which confirmed communication to CFN from Transport Canada; that the Economic Development office in Cornwall was made aware of the lease in June 2013.
City Hall is refusing to answer the very basic question as to who at ED was spoken to and why the heck it wasn’t shared “officially” with council and the public in any subsequent monthly reports to council.
Furthermore why is Mayor Kilger and council allowing the Feds to connect Harbour Divestiture discussions with the Chem tanks? There is no connection. The Harper Government is clearly going against the very clear will of the people of Cornwall Ontario by allowing this to occur.
Resistance over these last few months has withered as well. When media broke a story about the tanks “being allowed” for one year Chuck Charlebois nor Mark A MacDonald specified any actions to be taken.
One candidate for council even said over the phone that the public doesn’t care so why should they?
Despite numerous efforts to find a suitable outcome, the City of Cornwall wishes to inform the community that Trillium Distribution Cornwall Inc. plans to resume work at the site owned by Transport Canada at Cornwall Harbour. The work may resume as early as this week.
Trillium and Transport Canada have entered into a lease for the construction and use of tanks on the site. The City of Cornwall has been and remains opposed to the ongoing use of the Cornwall Harbour for the transportation and storage of calcium chloride. The City has not provided any approval for this project; Transport Canada has maintained that it has sole jurisdiction over development on the lands.
“I am disappointed that Trillium has chosen to not recognize the City’s Interim Control Bylaw,” said Mayor Bob Kilger. “I remain optimistic that a solution exists that will see a permanent end to this activity on Cornwall’s waterfront through the divestiture process.”
The divestiture negotiation process with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and Transport Canada has been initiated and is ongoing. The ultimate goal is for the City of Cornwall and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne to take ownership of the Harbour lands, which would include the site in question.
The City of Cornwall passed an Interim Control Bylaw on December 9, 2013 that prevents the use of the land at Cornwall Harbour for any use other than open space and is in effect for a period of one year. It is intended to give Council and City staff an opportunity to study and subsequently consider adopting different zoning strategies for the area.
Trillium has appealed the Interim Control Bylaw to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), and it has also filed an application with the Superior Court of Ontario challenging the authority to adopt the Bylaw.
In February, the City issued various “stop work orders” intended to prevent work that is not in compliance with the Bylaw and undertaken without any City building permit. Because work continued, the City served various summons under the Provincial Offences Act, seeking the Court’s action to enforce the orders. The matter is before the Courts, and the first hearing is scheduled for April 15th, 2014.
What do you think Cornwall? You can post your comments below.
I think you should tell us what you plan on doing about the tanks once you are elected Mayor later this year Jamie.
ok … this again shows the arrogance of the Mayor and City council .. just what the hell are these assholes trying to pull here !!! Hey bob You work for me remember … YOUR FIRED and the rest of your goons are on thin ice !!!! By the way The People of this towne do care .. You jerks just don’t want to tell us whats going on … this is a total breach of trust .. we cant have our employees plotting and sneaking around .. not doing their jobs .. that would be bad for the company right ? By By Bob and TANKS for the memories !!!
Stan first off let’s take this one step back, or two. If I was mayor and found out my staff hid the lease; IE that we knew in June and I was only finding out in December; someone would be fired or held accountable in the most extreme fashion.
Because if I found out in June, before the shovels started to dig I’d make sure that there would be no tanks unless I had a goofy council that wanted them which doesn’t seem to be the case. If you have a city scream loud enough together those tanks would never have started. Where we are now? When elected I’d ask for an investigation to what’s happened and make sure the public was accounted for, and I’d make sure that it never happened again while on my watch. We need a mayor that puts Cornwall first; not party allegiances or some other back door support.
Every person on council signs a Declaration of Office; an oath; and in my opinion this council and mayor have failed their oaths; some more intentionally; some not; but the end result is that we have tanks in the ground where we clearly do not want them.
Mike,,,, lol, lol, You absolutely brought me to tears ! “By By Bob and TANKS for the memories” !!! What a priceless comment ! Where did you think of this stuff ? Mike, I could not agree more than I do, regarding this bunch on Council, they all must go, every damn one of them, they all sat back, said nothing, professed to know nothing & treated us like we are idiots ! I would much prefer a completely new Council, without all the baggage that this one has accumulated ! I would even go a step further, their would be very few senior managers left in the fold. At the end of their contracts “thank-you, good-bye” ! We will not be renewing your contracts ! We need a fresh start, to turn this place around ?
jamie if you become mayor would you be able to work with the adm.we have now that is very important to me…FERN
Admin said “why is Mayor Kilger and council allowing the Feds to connect Harbour Divestiture discussions with the Chem tanks? ” Reason I see is because the tanks are on federal gov’t land and if the feds can divest themselves of harbour land and hand control over to willing cities, towns they will. By divesting themselves of harbour lands they will not be responsible for costs, problems, etc. down the line. Those costs, problems will be passed on to the towns, cities involved. Is it right? Probably not. But it’s hard enough to fight city hall. Fighting the provincial or federal government is even harder. The longer this drags on the less resistance the federal gov’t will encounter in regard to the tanks and harbour lands divestiture.
I sure enjoyed Mike’s blog and yes “Tanks for the Memories” is right and more like nightmares coming from Bare Ass and his gang of thugs which includes the town’s managers. These so called managers should be fired and not one left to be renewed. I said it so many times here on CFN that management should all be thrown out the door and I continue to say that including Bare Ass and his gang of thugs who are completely incompetent and only there for a pay cheque. Bare Ass and his thugs do not care one iota about the people that they represent and you are all given a kick in the ass as to call him “your worship”. My God Almighty I don’t worship anyone let alone Bare Ass. The only one I worship is God Himself and no man and I don’t give a hoot about their title or how much money they have it means absolutely nothing. I am wondering when the elections are coming and when Jamie would take over if he gets elected. These goons should all be thrown out the door now and not later. These goons have absolutely no shame “by their fruits yee shall know them”. Well we all got to know Bare Ass and company and it didn’t take much to find out just who they were and what they were. If you do not go to the meetings and raise hell on earth at Bare Ass then you deserve what you get. The people have to rise up in Cornwall and do something about it. Stop falling asleep watching Dancing with the Stars and all the other garbage on the “boob tube” that destroys your brain cells and get out there and do something. With those tanks already in the ground who is going to pay to have that removed if Jamie gets in as mayor. The feds never do things in secret and everything is well planned well in advance. The town of Cornwall should have control of that harbor and its lands along with Akwassassne.
Bebe .. we do need change that’s for sure .. there are a few good folks on council .. not everyone agrees with the Mayor .. but the number is small …the people of Cornwall will have their say on election day .. but what I am begging everyone now .. is if You have a chance to speak out .. Do it !!! I was afraid , but not anymore .No one has to be afraid . We need to take back control .In the up coming weeks you may hear about demonstrations taking place in Cornwall .. Please show your support by attending , because If We don’t make it clear to these ass-caps that The buck stops here … they’ll drag this towne to the ground
Fern I already work with admin fairly regularly. 🙂
Hugger if the Feds are trying to connect the two issues then it’s up to our elected officials to fight it..unless….someone at City Hall is performing bad theatre on the voters….
More firings needed for any input accepting this issue on behaldf of the city. All recognize the need for jobs and follow through with contracts, yet.the time to squelch this issue would have been on first blush….February 2013 when the city was first notified. Someone dropped the ball and the now the citizens are hung out to dry……in particular our Brown Field Planners.
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My point is that the tanks and the harbour divestiture are already connected. The tanks are on federal gov’t land. If the city / MCA are successful in getting control of the harbour lands then they will assume control of the tanks and must abide by any contracts that come with the tanks. That is unless the city / MCA can convince Trillium to abandon, remove and relocate new tanks somewhere else in the city. A good location would be the industrial park. If harbour divestiture happens then the city / MCA also assumes any other contracts that the feds have currently in regard to the harbour lands. I don’t see this mess ending anytime soon.
Hugger in my opinion this is a 100% deception to the public by City Hall that’s being covered up. Sadly though our community isn’t forcing the Mayor to answer the questions.
They must be happy with the tanks on our waterfront…
Jamie, I agree 100%. But like I said earlier “the longer this drags on the less resistance the federal gov’t will encounter in regard to the tanks and harbour lands divestiture.” And the longer it drags on it’s also better for the city if any deception / lack of info flowing to the public occurred. The longer an issue takes to resolve public interest in the issue will slowly dissipate. Unless this drags on until election time, then things could get interesting, Verrrry interesting (hello Arte Johnson).
Admin I have many times prior said that there has been no “:vision” of the future by Cornwall’s leadership. Now and for longer than the 27 years that I have been a resident of Cornwall the various elected administrations have lacked the understanding of leadership and direction. Quite simply it should have been a priority of the elected officials of the day when the federally controlled property ceased to fulfill its primary function. A deal brokered at that time would have had less relative financial impact than a deal brokered in current times. Outside of brokering a straight up deal the City could have obtained a right of first refusal on the lands (sale or lease) , simply ask any lawyer and we all would have avoided the current situation.
Admin
Thank You for the email!
I was wondering how you could actually stop them from building on land you don’t own?
It would be similar to me saying no pool on your property. Provided all checks and balances were in order there is nothing I cold do.
Even had council known what would they have done differently under your leadership?
The problem in Cornwall is that people do not care enough about what goes on and when the people do not care then why should Bare Ass or any other jerk care. You get the government that you deserve. If you do not work with the mayor and council to make a better place to live then you can’t complain. You can’t turn a blind eye to anybody and you must get involved or else you will all get screwed and this is exactly what is happening today. I blame the people more than what I blame Bare Ass and his jerks.
The divestiture negotiations ! Mayor Kilger’s press release states
The ultimate goal is for the City of Cornwall and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne to take
ownership of the Harbor lands, which would include the site in question .
This proposed partnership is as I see it a very stupid idea with Cornwall coming out on the
loosing end . A partnership arrangement would in fact change history, land ownership for
all north shore land was settled in 1784 . See Pointe Maligne and United Empire Loyalists
City council will as I understand it be required to approve any agreement if it hasn’t already,
given that to the Mayor and the City clerk / in any event not in open council but behind closed
doors . If this goes through Mayor Kilger and any member of City Council that are in agreement
should be ashamed of themselves .
Bill a funny thing…people can say whatever they want, but what’s on the page that counts in court and what’s in that last documented we published clearly showed that the Mayor and Clerk can sign off on a deal. With Councilor Clement being a lawyer I am shocked that she rubber stamped it without even waving her little flippers once in open council….
Admin
You have to stop posts like you have shown at 1:32. I nearly choked on hot tea.
Bernadette is like Elaine, Both f them have larger hopeful agendas with regards to higher level government.
Neither will create a large stir of the pot or their 5 minutes of fame will be spent.
At least Elaine tries, however as a result of her tribulations her party does not support her thus why se is always last
Bernadette is a nice little puppet, No goal, No plan and No idea …a perfect fit for the liberal party just another person waiting for a pension
You may be right Hailey. I still think it’s cute with Bernie Boo Boo waves her little flippers around and espouses on almost every question during council. Can you imagine the time in total she’s added to meetings over the course of her eight years by the time term two is over for her?
Jules: It’s fine to blame the people on this one. But that isn’t the case totally. This has been a classic case of FUBAR. I find as people get older, myself included, they are less likely to want to be involved in contentious issues and they leave it to others. The NIMBY principle comes in to play, but no one wants to get involved. Is it right? Probably not, but you can’t for e people to do things they don’t want to do.
has the danger really occurred to anyone .. we are built on a fault line .. one day . there could be an accident and the chemical could spill all over the place .. we could have an earthquake and the tanks could be destroyed . do you know what will happen ? first of all if the wind blows it around and you breath it .. you might have an hour to live .. nose bleed , vomiting … there are about 6,000 people that live in this area .. me being one of them… heres a thought .. it is aprox 90 steps from the gates where the tanks are and the nearest residential street( I KNOW I WALKED IT TODAY ) .. what does the city plan on doing if that were to happen …. I for one don’t think the mayor , his cronies or the federal government care about you .. its all money and numbers .. hell the city would collect insurance while 6,000n die . NO TANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike….hopefully the tanks are built up to a standard to withstand a standard earthquake. But we never seem to learn, do we? California keeps constructing buildings along their major fault lines. Other states / provinces keep constructing buildings where there shouldn’t be buildings.