Pickering council move on Big Pipe lawsuit stinks: protesters

July 25, 2010
Jeff Mitchell

PICKERING -- Protesters took to the streets of Pickering Saturday, complaining council's abandonment of the fight against the so-called Big Pipe doesn't meet the sniff test.

"We thought the mayor was leading a fight on our behalf," demonstrator and mayoral candidate Maurice Brenner said as a group of residents, toting signs with slogans like 'Stop The Stink' and 'Stop York's Crap From Flowing Into Pickering', departed city hall to distribute information pamphlets.
"What has changed?" Mr. Brenner asked.

Saturday's protest was sparked by a council decision, made during a closed meeting July 12, to abandon a lawsuit targeting York Region's plans to expand its massive sewer line, known as the Big Pipe. The lawsuit, launched last fall, claimed residents hadn't been properly consulted about the construction of an odour control facility near the Cherrywood West subdivision.

At council's final meeting before its summer break, Mayor Dave Ryan announced the legal action would be dropped because there was no likelihood of it being successful; instead the city will negotiate a settlement with York on expansion of the Big Pipe, said Mayor Ryan.

Expansion opponents are incensed at the abandonment of the suit, and the way in which it happened. They're demanding to know how councillors voted during the in camera meeting, and their reasons for doing so.

"There's an element of accountability here," Mr. Brenner said. "Council has no right to meet behind closed doors."

Protest organizer Peter Rodrigues, also a candidate in next October's municipal election, said Saturday's action was intended to inform Pickering residents about council's decision.

"Our objective is to let the public know what happened and our objection to what's happened," Mr. Rodrigues said.

Addressing protestors at the start of the demonstration, Mr. Rodrigues noted the issue is political, "but we're not framing it as an election issue."

The comment elicited a guffaw from resident Marion Thomas, who stood on the fringe of the group as it assembled.

"It's totally political," Ms. Thomas said.

She said council made the right move in dropping legal action.

"I don't think we have a hope in hell of winning," she said. "I'm dead against the pipe, but I'm dead against continuing with this lawsuit as well."

That said, Ms. Thomas agreed with one point raised by the protesters: councillors should come clean on how they voted on the issue, she said.

"They made the deal," Ms. Thomas said. "They should be clear on how they voted."