Al Lunney

I attended the meeting in Petawawa on March 11 of county and municipalities regarding the possible closure of the rail line through Mississippi Mills. It was extremely well attended and a full discussion took place over two hours.

As a result of that meeting, the following resolution has been prepared by the County of Renfrew and will be forwarded to Lanark County and all affected municipalities for their support. The resolution is on the Lanark County agenda this Wednesday night and will be brought forward to a Mississippi Mills agenda shortly. Further meetings will be held by county and municipal groups in Lanark and Renfrew.

The motion is as follows:

WHEREAS rail service is a vital transportation link required for the maintenance and development of sustainable and vibrant communities throughout rural Ontario;

AND WHEREAS the loss of rail service from Smiths Falls to Sudbury would represent a devastating economic impact to an area that has been severely impacted by the current economic recession and requires improvements to all transportation infrastructure to compete on a level playing field for community sustainability;

AND WHEREAS Canadian Pacific has issued a Notice of Sale or Discontinuance of Railway Line in accordance with the Canadian Transportation Act for the Chalk River rail line (mile 0.5 to mile 104.0) between Smiths Falls and Petawawa;

AND WHEREAS Canadian Pacific has also indicated that a Notice of Sale or Discontinuance will be given for the rail line between mile 104.0 Chalk River Sub and mile 70 North Bay Sub (Petawawa to Mattawa) and that a short-line operator will be sought for the line between Temiscaming and Sudbury only;

AND WHEREAS the federal and provincial governments have a responsibility to all Canadians and Ontarians, respectively, to ensure that vital transportation infrastructure that was established to serve all Canadians, with substantial investments by Canadian taxpayers, is not lost to the detriment of existing and future citizens of rural Ontario;

AND WHEREAS, rail transportation is an environmentally responsible means of transporting goods, particularly in the face of rising energy and transportation costs;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, as follows:

THAT the federal and provincial governments commit to a funding program that will permit the economic viability of short-line railways, thereby maintaining valuable railway transportation infrastructure corridors;

AND THAT this resolution be forwarded to all municipalities between North Bay and Sudbury, the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, MPs and MPPs representing constituents in the affected areas, the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Ontario Minister of Transportation, Geoff Hare, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Transportation Agency, and Rick Poznikoff, Canadian Pacific Railway.

Posted in Closure of rail line, County, Issues, Mississippi Mills | No Comments »

Jeri and I attended a great evening of entertainment last evening at our beautiful Old Town Hall.  The combination of local talent and an amazing puppet show by La Pendue from France made an enjoyable evening for young and old. And free coffee too.

Puppets Up! will be held on the weekend of August 7,8 this summer. It’s an amazing international festival featuring puppet troupes from Russia, Taiwan, the USA and Canada. Be sure to reserve those dates.

Posted in Celebrations & Festivals | No Comments »

A timely article was in the Ottawa Citizen.

Gatineau won’t treat septic-tank waste
Outaouais rural residents told to build their own sewage plant

By Dave Rogers , The Ottawa Citizen February 19, 2010

OTTAWA — The City of Gatineau has decided to stop treating septic tank waste from the Gatineau Hills and the Pontiac at the end of 2010, leaving more than 45,000 rural Outaouais residents without sewage treatment.

MRC Pontiac Warden Michael McCrank said Friday the change is likely to mean more West Quebec septic tank waste being trucked to Ottawa and possibly New York for treatment and disposal.

Gatineau Councillor Alain Riel said the city’s plant on Notre-Dame Street has reached its capacity and it is time for rural residents to build their own sewage-treatment plant.

“We are up to a quarter-million people now in Gatineau and the city is booming,” Riel said. “We have a plan to modernize our plant, but it hasn’t been done yet. They have to take care of their own sewage on their territory.

“They asked for an 18- to 24-month extension of the sewage treatment contract and we agreed to a year.”

Robert Bussière, the warden of MRC des Collines, said construction of a new treatment plant won’t be done this year.

Most households in the rural part of the Outaouais rely on septic tanks that have to be pumped out every two to three years.

“We will deal with disposal of septic-tank waste when the time comes,” Bussière said. “Right now I have no idea where it will go.”

McCrank, the Pontiac warden, said there is no quick solution to the disposal problem.

“The material is now de-watered and treated in Gatineau or Ottawa to take out the heavy metals and some of it has been taken to New York state,” McCrank said. “In the rural areas, historically, we have been dumping it into trench landfill sites.

“Quebec has closed the trench landfills because they decided it wasn’t acceptable practice anymore. There is a proposal from Campbell’s Bay Cement to de-water it and turn it into fertilizer.”

Felice Petti, manager of environmental services for the City of Ottawa, said the city would treat West Quebec septic waste for $23 a cubic metre, more than three times the cost of Ottawa sewage. Petti said there has been little demand for sewage treatment from municipalities outside Ottawa since the prices increased in 2009.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Posted in Issues, Mississippi Mills, Waste Water Treatment Plant | No Comments »

On February 22 at the Good Roads conference in Toronto, I appeared before the Ministry of Tourism for Ontario and made the following presentation on behalf of the County of Lanark.

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On January 5, 2010, Lanark County learned that Canadian Pacific Railway was planning to close the OVR line from Smiths Falls to Petawawa as quickly as possible. There are 104 miles of track and multiple trestles between these communities.

 The Canada Transportation Act lays out the legislative/regulated process which CP must follow to complete their goal. The legislation provides for a three staged process:

• Offer the line to another railroad to operate
• Offer to government in a priority order at net salvage value
• Discontinue/dismantle the rail line and create a real estate transaction to sell the rail bed to one party

On February 1, 2010, CP Rail advertised to obtain expression of interests from other railroad operators.  April 5^th, 2010 is the closing date   Assuming they receive an interest they have six months to negotiate a deal.

Assuming no railway interest,  offers will be made to government to acquire the line at net salvage value.  Assuming no government interest,  CP will discontinue and dismantle the line within sixty days without further notice. By September, the tracks will be gone with only a road bed remaining.

The question becomes: what economic development and tourism opportunities will be lost to the province, the county and the local municipalities if we do not act?

Council Position

Lanark County Council has taken the position of opposing the discontinuance of the OVR line. Discontinuing this line precludes the ability to attract manufacturing/industrial opportunities which require access to rail. We also believe that the future of transportation in Canada will see a resurgence of passenger rail. Why should we abandon existing assets which can never be replaced?

If retaining the rail line is not achievable we need to protect the right-of-way as a future trail for the public. Snow mobile, ATV, walking and riding trails are becoming very popular. We are looking for the provincial government to partner with the counties of Lanark and Renfrew to protect this right-of-way for future generations. Timing becomes the first critical factor with which we must deal. August is around the corner and after that it may be too late.

Factors for Consideration

If CP dismantles the line the tracks will go, but what about the trestles? If the trestles are demolished, the goal for a continuous trail cannot be achieved. If the trestles are retained, they do not have any safety railings today and therefore cannot be safely used.  Many of the trestles are historic so there could be potentially a significant remediation, maintenance and/or repair bill attached to their retention

If a real estate transaction can be achieved to acquire the rail bed, CP wants one financial transaction . We need the provincial government to work with Lanark and Renfrew to acquire and finance this transaction.

CP is required to undertake an environmental assessment as part of the decommissioning.  Although it will identify contamination, remedial action is not required. Regardless of ownership the municipalities will be left with a legacy of contamination, in their community, without remediation.

Third party liability is always a concern for property owners . Who will be accountable for providing protection to the public on an abandoned railway line?  Community safety is paramount since people are already taking advantage of no trains by walking the tracks and trestles.

Next Steps

Time is of the essence.  Has the province been involved in any other rail line closures where they have partnered with counties? Is there any funding available to undertake a feasibility study to determine the viability of creating a trail which could have a positive economic or tourism impact?

Lanark County is part of Region 11 of the Regional Tourism Organization. This region includes Renfrew and other county partners.  It would appear that there is potential to use this loss of service to our advantage by creating a unique experience within these rural counties if we act.  In creating these regions the Minister stated: “that the province took into consideration the tourists perspective, travel partners, common markets, natural landforms and existing infrastructure”.

Could the Trans Canada Trail be expanded to include this right-of-way?  We believe that a partnership with the Province of Ontario, Renfrew and Lanark counties is the only viable solution to saving this asset for future generations. How can we work together?

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Subsequent to this presentation, a meeting of the Counties of Lanark and Renfrew, with two representatives from each municipality, has been scheduled for Petawawa on March 11 at 1 p.m. in the Petawawa Community Centre. I will be doing the presentation on behalf of the County of Lanark. Councillors Ferguson and Lowry will be bringing forward Mississippi Mills’ concerns.  Mississippi Mills has 14 railroad crossings and three major trestle crossings, two in Pakenham and one in Almonte. This will be a major part of the presentation by Mississippi Mills.

Posted in Closure of rail line, County, Issues, Mississippi Mills | 2 Comments »

To begin, I want to quote from my blog article, Sept 20, 2009, entitled Update on Sewage Treatment Plant:

“The plant itself is being built for a number of reasons. The lagoon system is old and failing; it cannot meet the level of phosphorus requirements and provincial orders were placed on the town to conduct an environmental assessment (EA) on how to correct the problem. Through the EA process, it was determined that the building of a sewage treatment plant was the appropriate solution. To state that the plant is being built solely for growth is simply wrong. Also to state that rural residents will be paying for the Almonte portion of the plant is totally unfounded. Almonte residents have and will continue to pay for Almonte’s water and sewer costs.

 We also need to understand why the Town of Mississippi Mills included in the design a septage receiving facility. Over the past four years, the province had given clear direction that municipalities would be required to have a plan in place for the treatment of septage. The province also stated on numerous occasions that they would be bringing in legislation to stop the spreading of untreated septage on fields. At the present time, haulers are spreading untreated septage not only from residents of Mississippi Mills on our fields, but also from residents of Ottawa, Calabogie, Ompah and points in between. I firmly believe that we cannot deal in isolation with the statement “we don’t agree with the spreading of untreated septage”, without addressing the issue, “so what are we going to do with it?”. “

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After attending numerous meetings and listening to residents, I started thinking, what would have happened if we had not included the septage component and simply built the required plant for Almonte residents and what would have happened if the Ministry came through on its commitment to ban the spreading of untreated septage.

What would the local community say?

• Why didn’t Council anticipate that this was going to happen?
• Once again, Almonte residents get the benefit of the new sewage treatment plant and rural residents get nothing.
• What will happen to my severances? The Nutrient Management Act from 2005 states that no more severances will be granted unless the municipality has capacity for septage
• A new plant for septage is estimated to be well in excess of $2 million with no chance of funding as the government has already given funding for Almonte
• Why didn’t you build the septage component when you had the funding?
• The haulers have now doubled my clean-out rates as there is no place to spread untreated septage in Mississippi Mills and it all must be trucked to Ottawa or Kingston.
• We demand that the Town hold a public meeting to explain to rural residents how their lack of planning could ever have allowed this to happen.

After the public meeting, an email would likely be received criticizing the Town on the facts brought forward at the public meeting and stating that the meeting was one of the biggest wastes of time they have ever experienced, and they say this after a personal history of wasting too much time at municipal meetings (even though no one has seen them at a municipal meeting for over a year.)

Because of the foresight of this council, this will not happen but I simply had to get this off my chest.

Posted in Issues, Mississippi Mills, Waste Water Treatment Plant | 1 Comment »

On February 22, Councillors Ferguson, Torrance, Gillis, Edwards and I had the opportunity to meet with the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture/Food to get an update on the province’s plans to ban the spreading of untreated septage.

In a letter to me dated Nov. 3, 2009, the Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen, advised us: “I appreciate the Town of Mississippi Mills’ initiative to replace and enhance the existing sewage treatment plant and include the capacity to receive septage in that upgrade. Ontario is commited to ending the spreading of untreated septage on land. He further stated: “There must be capacity to treat septage in order to successfully implement the ban and that capacity does not yet exist across the province. Therefore the government did not set an arbitrary date by which the spreading of untreated septage would end.” He then goes on to say: “As septage capacity increases in Ontario, other implementation measures, such as your suggestion of a phased-in ban will be reviewed.”

Our approach to both Ministries is that Mississippi Mills will have that capacity in 2012 and we are quite prepared to participate in a pilot project.

We also reminded the representatives that they have already approved the banning of the spreading of untreated septage in the neighbouring community of the City of Ottawa and that we are now not only accepting untreated septage from Mississippi Mills residents, but also from the City of Ottawa.

We received positive comments on our suggestions and we have been advised that we will be hearing further from the Ministry of the Environment in the immediate future.

Posted in Issues, Mississippi Mills, Waste Water Treatment Plant | No Comments »

The Rural Ontario Municipal Association held its annual conference in Toronto last week. Councillors Ferguson, Gillis, Torrance, Edwards and I attended.

The focus of the conference is mainly on rural issues. In addition to the numerous information sessions and workshops, it allows delegates to speak directly with the various Ministers in charge of departments. The Premier of Ontario, as well as the leaders of the Conservative and NDP parties also addressed the delegates.

Mississippi Mills’ representatives had the opportunity to meet directly with the Ministry of Agriculture/Food to seek updates on the government policy on the spreading of untreated septage on fields in Mississippi Mills. I will comment further on the results of that meeting in another article.

At the County level, I participated on issues such as the closure of the rail line, the municipal drug strategy, the Best Start Program in schools and our concerns about the excessive wage awards that are being made by provincial arbitartors.

I would be pleased to answer any questions.

Posted in Conference | No Comments »