Surrounding Towns Furious Over T.O.’s Dump Purchase

That certainly applies to the London, Ontario area after Toronto councillors voted 26-12 to approve the purchase of a landfill in nearby St. Thomas late Tuesday night. Toronto will be trucking its trash to the facility when its contract with Michigan ends in 2010.

But this is clearly one local export no one wants.

The mayor of the forest city is furious with the move. London’s Anne Marie DeCicco-Best complains the city received no warning about the purchase and residents there don’t look forward to seeing polluting trucks loaded with stinking piles of our refuse moving through their boundaries on a weekly basis.

She vows to use the influence of local MPPs at Queen’s Park to quash the deal before it starts.

“We will continue to oppose this,” assures DeCicco-Best “I know that our MPPs in London are very concerned about a number of issues. It doesn’t leave a municipality really any option other than public pressure or the province making a decision that this will not go forward.”

But Mayor David Miller insists there was no way he could have let his counterpart know of the plan in advance and that’s it’s urgent Toronto be allowed to control its own destiny.

“Because of the nature of the transaction it had to be considered by council and because of advice we had to get from our solicitor, had to be considered in camera. It wasn’t possible to speak to the local municipalities ahead of time without breaching council’s privilege.”

The cost of the purchase is being kept under wraps, but it’s believed taxpayers will be shelling out millions of dollars to secure the dump. But Miller maintains that’s a plus, because the city will derive revenues from other areas that want access.

The move has surprised many in the G.T.A.

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion claims she can’t understand why Toronto turned down the chance to ship its trash to the Adams Mine in Kirkland Lake several years ago, only to do the same thing in a different location.

“They were against the landfill sitting in the mining area where the people wanted it,” she muses. “The mayor wanted it. The council wanted it. People wanted it, and Toronto was against it. Yet they’re prepared to dump their garbage onto a municipality outside in St. Thomas. It’s strange.”

Miller disagrees.

“Adam’s Mine was not an operating landfill,” he responds. “Adam’s Mine was a lake with unproven technology … There’s no comparison whatsoever … You were essentially throwing garbage in a lake and the proponents walked away.”

DeCicco-Best is hoping the city takes another walk long before 2010 – and the garbage trucks – both roll around.