Catégorie : Reflet-News (Russell-Embrun-Casselman)

“Time is of the essence,” said Stéphane Parisien, chief administrator for the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR).

UCPR council gave unanimous approval during a special session June 12 to a resolution calling on the federal government to confirm its $71 million share of funding support for the Eastern Ontario Regional Network’s Mobile Broadband Project (EORN).

The project is a follow-up to EORN’s regional broadband project for improvement of Internet service for all of Eastern Ontario. The mobile broadband project focus is better cellular phone service to benefit economic development and public safety in the region.

The Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus (EOWC), which represents 103 municipalities in Eastern Ontario, has committed $10 million to the project. The UCPR is part of the EOWC.

Another combined $10 million commitment has come from nine of the largest towns and cities in Eastern Ontario. The Ontario Progressive Conservative government has also confirmed a $71 million commitment to the project.

“All that we’re missing is the federal government coming to the table,” Parisien told UCPR council. “Time is running out. It’s five minutes to midnight.”

The Trudeau Liberal government promised funding in the federal budget for projects to improve broadband service for Canada’s rural areas. The UCPR demands that federal government make a public financial commitment to the EORN mobile broadband project before Parliament recesses for the summer.

Lisez la version française à la page 3 du Reflet-News du 13 juin 2019.

« We have nothing to do with Doug Ford, » said Lemieux, adding that the goal of the federal Conservative party is « responsible government spending » and recognizing that a balanced federal budget may not be possible within a four-year term.

During a June 2 interview at a local coffee shop Lemieux continued to distance himself and the federal Conservatives from Premier Ford’s Progressive Conservative government. He dismissed any suggestion that some voters may wonder if an Andrew Scheer federal Conservative government would act the same way as the Ford PC provincial government, with a focus on cost-cutting at the expense of social programs.

Lemieux wants to restore Glengarry-Prescott-Russell to the federal Conservative fold in October but he also has one other personal goal as he campaigns across the riding. « I want to restore people’s trust and confidence in their MPs, » he said. « I feel Canadians want to have confidence (in government) but it’s challenging. I want to serve the people, and do it in such a way to restore trust in our elected officials, in Parliament, and in our political system. »

Read the complete interview on page 3 of the Tribune-Express of June 12, 2019.

“We’re expecting an investigation (call),” said Michel Chrétien, director of emergency services for the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR).

Chrétien anticipates that kind of action from the health ministry in response to the “silent running” protocol that went into effect June 4 in the long-running battle between the UCPR, the City of Ottawa, and Ontario’s health ministry over out-of-town ambulance calls.

Ottawa owes the counties more than $1 million in costs for use of Prescott-Russell ambulance units to handle some of the city’s emergency calls. But Ottawa claims it is under no legal obligation to pay.

Meanwhile Ottawa continues to make use of counties ambulances to deal with some of its calls. Provincial policy for ambulance dispatch requires units to respond to a call when required, even if it is in a neighbouring jurisdiction. Sometimes the demand by Ottawa on PR ambulance units has been so great that there are no units available when UCPR residents need ambulance service.

UCPR officials have complained about the situation to Queens Park during both the Wynne Liberal and the Ford Progressive Conservative administrations. The counties have become tired at the lack of results and now have a “silent running” protocol in place for the PR ambulance service.

Prescott-Russell units which are returning to home base after dealing with a call outside of their area will ignore any other outside calls from provincial dispatch until they have returned to base. Then they will be available for outside calls again.

The “silent running” protocol is the latest tactic by the counties to get provincial action on the ambulance dispatch situation. Chrétien expects the protocol may provoke a challenge from the health ministry through an investigation on any one or more of the outside ambulance dispatch calls which PR units refused while on their way back to base. He said he would welcome the chance to explain the situation in court to a judge.

Counties council gave unanimous consent during its May 8 committee of the whole session to have administration prepare a resolution for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) to join the growing protest against plans for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to develop a nuclear waste disposal operation at its Chalk River facility in Deep River in Renfrew County, about 180 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

The previous Harper Conservative government restructured Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. in 2015, creating the CNL subsidiary managed by a multinational consortium, which includes SNC Lavelin among its members. The CNL contract calls on the consortium to find “the fastest, most cost-effective means” for disposal of the nuclear waste at the Chalk River facility. The CNL plan would also handle waste disposal from other federal nuclear sites.

CNL wants to build a “near-surface disposal site” that includes a containment mound covering an area 27 acres in size with an elevation of 65 to 80 feet. The mound would contain about a million cubic metres of low-level nuclear waste that could also include some mid- and high-level waste, depending on whether CNL was successful at separating the materials.

The proposed site for the containment mound is over an active earthquake fault where the sub-surface rock is fractured and could allow any leachate to leak below ground into Perch Lake, which drains into the Ottawa River. CNL’s containment plan calls for putting the waste in a geomembrane and then covering that with layers of sand, stone, gravel, and top soil.

The City of Clarence-Rockland and the townships of Champlain, Alfred-Plantagenet and East Hawkesbury have already passed resolutions opposing CNL’s proposal.