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10 | 18 | 2014 VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 42
A LOOK AT THE CANDIDATES VYING FOR JOBS MUNICIPAL VOTE 2014 PAGE 9
COMMENT PAGE 6
CPAC AND TWP. RUNNING SHORT ON PATIENCE WITH MOE
EDSS students get a chance to mock the vote
SENIOR BOYS LOOK STRONG VS. ST. DAVID
WHITNEY NEILSON As municipal elections continue to face dismally low voter turnout rates, local high school civics classes hope to teach students the importance of exercising their democratic right. EDSS teacher Chris Finnie will be holding a mock election for the civics classes, allowing students to cast their “vote” for the municipal election. Their votes are registered with the region and tallied within the larger picture of the province. The whole school previously participated for the provincial election in the spring. “Municipal elections don’t get as much coverage as the federal or provincial with students knowing what’s going on,” Finnie said. “Most don’t know what a trustee or a councillor would be. My job with these students is that they understand what the role of the federal government is, provincial government is, municipal government is and what they do for society.” This week the students were learning what the roles of the mayor and councillors are, what the school board is and what the trustees do. Next week he’s taking them to the computer lab to research the candidates and decide which candidates they’d choose for the different positions. He said they help students discover what issues matter the most to them, VOTE | 5
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Woolwich backs call for action on Chemtura contaminants
Tired of inaction from the province, CPAC resolution aims to have the MoE move quickly to draft a real plan STEVE KANNON
Elmira District Secondary School running back Alex White led the charge for the senior Lancers with two touchdowns in the squad’s 44-16 rout over the St. David Catholic School Celtics on October 10 in Elmira. [SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]
Fed up with footdragging on the part of Ministry of the Environment, Woolwich wants quick action to tackle contamination on the Chemtura site in Elmira. The province has for years failed to do anything about polluted soil and water around the chemical plant, with toxins registering hundreds and even thousands of times higher than maximum risk levels, says the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). On Tuesday night, the group got the backing of a council resolution calling for a comprehensive analysis of the site’s pollutants within 60 days, with an action plan formulated within the following three months of the investigation. “The message needs to
be sent to the MoE that CPAC is not pleased with the lack of expeditious action,” said Coun. Mark Bauman, council’s representative on the committee. “CPAC wants action, not talk.” Citing “alarming” figures from a survey of hotspots on the site, CPAC chair Dan Holt told councillors the committee wants to see “real, significant action” now. A pair of simple overlays of a map of the Chemtura property highlights some of the longstanding concerns. Concentrations of DDT and metabolites, which pose a human health risk above 142 parts per billion (ppb) are present adjacent to the Canagagigue Creek in amounts ranging from 1,000 ppb to 73,000. “All of these spots are well above the 142 ppb,” Holt noted of the potential CPAC | 4