Attempts by the ‘Stop the Build’ group to find any foothold against the upcoming Tiny Township administration centre (TTAC) project continue to slip out of grasp, including contacting the provincial Ombudsman and denied calls for a referendum.
At the recent meetings of council, opposition supporters attended in low spirits following a three-page correspondence to the municipality from the Ontario Ombudsman which not only addressed complaints regarding meeting practices of the TTAC committee, but then commended “the Township for taking these steps to increase the transparency of the TTAC Committee’s activities” without requiring a need to do so.
During the open deputations portion of the meeting, opposition and protest organizer Karen Zulynik took a proactive stance of defence ahead of its place in the agenda much later in the evening.
“You guys might think it’s a (cause for) champion, but I want to say my two cents because it’s a report in the agenda,” said Zulynik, who disagreed with the Ombudsman’s findings. “There’s absolutely zero mention in the TTAC’s minutes about any opposition to the construction. Zero. And I’ve read every single minutes.”
Zulnyik added that the response was in “total disrespect” to herself and the group, who sent “an actual box of documents to them,” adding that instead of being contacted by the Ombudsman, “I only learned of it in the minutes of your agenda today.”
Before council would address the Ombudsman portion, the rest of the meeting needed to proceed.
Further open deputations included a grandparent who brought along her grandchild “to see the democratic process in action,” and to display to council who would be inheriting the costs of the TTAC down the road.
During the matters for consideration portion of the committee of the whole where council would typically ‘receive as information’ or direct staff further into a course of action, the attendees increased in their excitement as previous deputant Borys Kowalsky’s referendum request was addressed; Zulnyik announced “this is it” from her seat in the back of the chambers.
Coun. Dave Brunelle, who often reads from prepared statements, shared such a piece filled with talking points against the project for nearly five minutes resulting in resounding applause at its conclusion.
It was interrupted midway through, however, as Brunelle spoke regarding the ecological ambition of a net-zero energy and net-zero design for the facility. “Are we truly pursuing an environmentally responsible path, or is there another agenda cloaked in green rhetoric?”
Coun. Steffen Walma interjected with a point of privilege. “I’m going to ask the councillor to clarify what he means by ‘cloaked’, suggesting that there’s an undertone of – what, sir?”
Prompted by Mayor Dave Evans, Brunelle replied: “Can I respond after I finish my thing?”
Once finished, Brunelle mused aloud.“‘Cloaked’, how can I define cloak? I think Dr. Kowalsky would be doing a much better job than myself, who has a Ph.D. On this definition of cloak, the way I see it, a cloak will darken or cover up – that’s to me what cloak means… there seems to be something hidden about a green agenda.”
Walma retorted: “The way that I interpret that, is that there's alleging that there's something dirty happening; there’s a fix in of some kind.
“Council has never said that we are building a building to be more green; we are building a building to be more efficient, and we are going to be green.” Walma cited the township’s official plans and strategic plans to reiterate, noting that not incorporating green initiatives into the TTAC would be irresponsible planning.
“I take offence to the opinion that you just offered, in public, that there is some secret agenda,” Walma stated.
Brunelle replied that “the values and philosophies of people are going to be on different pages, and another reason why we should have a referendum."
He then sprung an impromptu 200-word motion asking council to approve a pause on the build for those reasons and requested a referendum, which caused attendees to applaud loudly.
After council approved receiving Kowalsky’s deputation for information, Brunelle’s motion was introduced and required a seconder for further discussion or approval. However, none of the four other council members chose to second the motion, and it lay dead.
Loud disapproval filled the chambers as council addressed the next agenda item on paid parking, and while Kowalsky attempted to be the voice of civility by gently asking the opposition to quiet down, nearly all left immediately following council’s inaction on the referendum item.
Zulynik remained as did Kowalsky, and the issue of the Ombudsman report returned where Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins read aloud the full letter for the benefit of those with troubles accessing the electronic agenda items.
Coun. Kelly Helowka further asked staff if the municipal costs to involve the Ombudsman’s Office could be provided for the public benefit, but was informed that those numbers weren’t available.
Following the meeting, Evans spoke to MidlandToday regarding the referendum portion of the meeting, which had been discussed during a protest the week prior held outside the municipal office.
“I think there was a little bit of miscommunication or misunderstanding, unfortunately,” said Evans. “As part of a deputation made by Boris Kowalsky, he did ask for a referendum. And I think there were some people in the crowd that assumed that when we discuss a deputation in the following meeting, that that was actually going to take place.
“I interpreted from my position that people were a little shocked that there was no referendum, and I honestly don't know how they came up with that impression that there was a referendum because there was nothing on the agenda; it was being received as information.”
Regarding Brunelle’s motion, Evans acknowledged that the four-against-one position was contrary to Brunelle but that council respected his position.
“In this case, I believe the subject for the last six or seven months now has been debated quite a bit,” said Evans. “I can't speak for the other three members, but personally (my view was) I don't think we need to rehash this anymore.”
The referendum deputation as well as Ombudsman report can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
