Vacuous vote
Keith Hutchings, minister of Municipal Affairs, is forcing a needless plebiscite on residents of Witless Bay regarding the town’s new municipal plan.
Keith Hutchings, minister of Municipal Affairs, is forcing a needless plebiscite on residents of Witless Bay regarding the town’s new municipal plan.
Answers to a number of questions have not been received from Hutchings.
What prompted this dramatic, unprecedented and surprise action? Who is requesting this unilateral action? How many commercial subdivision developers and development corporations have made this request?
What is the urgency? What is the reason for such a rush?
If, as stated, the motivation for rushing into this suspiciously-timed plebiscite is “…the absence of an appropriate quorum,” Minister Hutchings, please explain why you have now rushed a plebiscite vote to be held on Sept. 17 — just one day prior to Sept. 18 when two wrongfully ousted councillors’ court appeal is heard, and their seats reinstated, thereby restoring “an appropriate quorum.”
Why is the May 2014 plan — a plan that respects the wishes of the residents and the professional advice of the town’s planning consultant and is the only plan that has gone through a public hearing and recommended for approval by the commissioner — not an option in the plebiscite?
Why is the 2013 plan being offered as an option instead — a now defunct version of the plan that has no legal standing?
Minister, if you really want to do what is best for the town, why do you not simply register either the May 2014 or the December 2014 plan, the former being the only plan having gone through a public hearing and the latter being the only plan presented to you for registration and both of which respect the residents’ wishes and the professional advice of the planning consultant?
Dieter Plautz Witless Bay Residents Association