Wawa-news.com Local and Regional News
Candidates in municipal elections across northern Ontario are being canvassed for their views and concerns regarding the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO’s) plan to transport, process, bury and abandon all of Canada’s high-level nuclear fuel waste at the Revell site between Ignace and Dryden in northwestern Ontario.
In a two-question survey, candidates are being asked about their concerns related to the NWMO’s project, and whether, if elected, they would support their municipality passing a resolution expressing their community’s concerns, joining the growing list of municipalities and organizations that have already passed resolutions.
The introductory section of the questionnaire for candidates in communities along the transportation routes notes that one of the many larger issues bearing directly on residents’ safety and wellbeing is the proposed transportation of radioactive waste. A second questionnaire will be used for communities which are downstream of the proposed site.
“While municipalities have no legal authority over nuclear matters, municipal councils have an influential voice, and have responsibilities for roads, emergency response and drinking water which are all integral to the transportation of nuclear waste through communities,” commented Brennain Lloyd, project coordinator with Northwatch, a member of the We the Nuclear Free North alliance.
Prepared in collaboration with groups that are part of the We the Nuclear Free North alliance, the alliance is inviting supporters and volunteers to use the candidates’ surveys in their local elections in order to raise the issue during the election period and highlight candidates positions on nuclear waste transportation and burial.
“This is a front of mind issue in many communities” commented Charles Faust, a volunteer with Nuclear Free Thunder Bay.
“Councils are making decisions – including whether to speak out or not – and voters should know where the candidates stand before going to the poll”.
The questionnaires are accompanied by backgrounders that provide candidates with information on the NWMO project and the risks to communities along the transportation route and in the vicinity of and downstream from the project site.
“With the waste travelling an average of 1,700 kilometres from the reactor stations to the proposed repository site, communities in northern Ontario will be put at risk with each shipment – that will be two or three times a day for fifty years,” commented Lloyd.
“Municipalities along the transportation route will be impacted. With decisions expected to be made at the federal level within this term of municipal council, residents need to hear now how their council – and candidates for council – will represent them.”
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