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Results of Questions to the Candidate – Municipal Election 2026 – Northern Ontario
A northern Ontario municipal candidates’ survey conducted by We the Nuclear Free North and local partners has revealed a high level of concern about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s plan to construct a deep geological repository for all of Canada’s highly radioactive nuclear fuel waste in northwestern Ontario. Respondents also expressed support for municipal responses.
Candidates for municipalities on or near the radioactive waste’s possible transportation route(s) and in the watershed of the proposed burial and abandonment site were emailed a survey asking two questions: whether they were concerned about the nuclear industry’s plan to transport and bury all of Canada’s nuclear fuel waste in northern Ontario, and whether they would support their municipality making a resolution officially expressing that concern.
Question 1:
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has a plan to transport, process, bury and then abandon all of Canada’s high-level nuclear fuel waste at the Revell site between Ignace and Dryden in northwestern Ontario.
NWMO’s plan will involve 2-3 shipments per day for more than 50 years, with each truck hauling 35 tons of radioactive waste per trip. Over 90% of the shipments will come from southern Ontario, averaging 1,700 km per trip, with most of those kilometres
travelled on the poorly maintained and mostly 2-lane roads of northeastern and northwestern Ontario.
Do you have concerns about the transportation of high-level radioactive waste through your community?
Question 2:
Many municipalities, First Nations and treaty organizations have passed resolutions expressing concern or opposition to NWMO’s project or calling for a robust impact assessment process.
Many of the resolutions follow the same general format, but each resolution is tailored to the community’s interests, concerns and location, often emphasizing either the risks for those along the transportation route or concerns about negative impacts on water
in downstream communities.
Would you support your municipality passing a resolution expressing your community’s concerns related to the NWMO’s project?
Of the more than 116 northern Ontario candidates who responded, 88% indicated YES to the first question, and 81% indicated YES to the second.
Some candidates indicated “Uncertain” to Question #2, saying it would depend on the wording of the proposed resolution. In most cases, additional comments from the candidates were supportive of the idea of sending a resolution through their municipality.
“The responses and comments gathered by this survey confirm what we have been hearing in conversations with incumbents and new municipal candidates,” said Brennain Lloyd, project coordinator with Northwatch.
“There is high awareness of the nuclear industry’s plan, and a recognition that municipalities need to speak out to protect their residents. The determination expressed in many of the comments was compelling.”
“At the Oliver Paipoonge all-candidates’ meeting last week, candidates confirmed and amplified their survey responses,” said Wendy O’Connor, a volunteer with We the Nuclear Free North. “I hope and anticipate that northern Ontario municipalities will collaborate on opposition initiatives and create an effective and united front.”
Responses were received from candidates running for office in 18 municipalities across northern Ontario. In some cases, such as in North Bay, response rates were very high, with 24 out of 30 candidates responding, 84% expressing concern about the transportation of radioactive waste through that City and 88% expressing support of a municipal resolution. North Bay is at the crossroads of Highways 11 and 17; the NWMO intends to use a combination of Highways 11 and 17 for long-distance transportation of high-level nuclear fuel waste, sending 2-3 truckloads carrying 35,000 tonnes of highly radioactive cargo every day for more than 50 years.
Thunder Bay had similar results, with 92% of respondents expressing concern about the shipments and 84% supporting the municipality passing a resolution expressing concerns about the waste shipments.
Recognizing their unique situation as a municipality having entered into a hosting agreement with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in 2024, candidates in the Township of Ignace were asked to complete a survey with Ignace-specific questions about that agreement and its implementation.
The hosting agreement between the Township of Ignace and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization binds future municipal councils. Elections and changes of councils will not change the obligations the Township signed up for in the March 2024 hosting agreement. For example, the agreement requires future councils to show up at the request of the NWMO at meetings, forums and hearings and speak in support of the project, regardless of future concerns or how future residents and councils view the project. Candidates were asked if they would support having the hosting agreement reviewed by an expert in contract law to evaluate its enforceability.
According to the hosting agreement, information about the implementation of the NWMO’s project shared with the “implementation committee” will be confidential, including scientific and technical information, and limited to the few individuals on a joint committee with the NWMO. Even communications from the municipality to its residents will be subject to review by the NWMO. Candidates were asked if they would commit to making information shared with the Township of Ignace available to the residents of Ignace.
Only mayoral candidate Jeff Lederer completed the survey, responding with a “yes” to both questions and adding the comment “Why would any council refuse an independent legal review of an agreement meant to last generations? As mayor, and with Council support, I would recommend that they commission one, publish the results, and use them to renegotiate what needs fixing.”
The other mayoral candidate is Jodie Defeo. In an election-related media interview Defeo described nuclear energy as “super sexy” and described the NWMO’s deep geological repository for nuclear fuel waste as “a place to put spent nuclear energy.”
Candidates in Dryden, the major centre closest to the NWMO’s proposed repository location, were split on whether they were concerned about the project, but a majority responded that they were, and 67% supported passing a resolution expressing the community’s concerns related to the NWMO’s project.
Municipality- and candidate-specific details on the questions and responses can be found at wethenuclearfreenorth.ca/municipal-election-2026/
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