The Deal Might Stink But Our Garbage Doesn't

At least according to the mayor.......Welcome back Sue-Ann.

December 28, 2006
No news isn't good news
By SUE-ANN LEVY

The requisite 90 days have passed since Toronto Mayor David Miller and his socialist seals orchestrated a quick and dirty deal to purchase the Green Lane landfill near St. Thomas.

I'm not the least bit surprised to learn that the details of the $220-million purchase are as sparse as they were on September 19 -- the day council approved the deal following a lengthy closed-door meeting.

Here's what we do know, or at least what the mayor would say publicly one week ago.

He billed the landfill purchase and sale agreement as "enormous progress" towards securing a place for the city to landfill its trash for the next 10 years. He said without it the city would be at risk of huge costs should Michigan legislators make good on their threats to close the border to the 80 trucks now hauling Toronto's garbage daily to the Carleton Farms landfill site in their state.

Miller added the deal would close March 29 and until then the terms of the agreement would not be made public -- not to taxpayers, nor to the very councillors who approved the purchase in the first place.

Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong tried to get more information last week and was turned down flat.

"It's council's obligation and our duty to be aware and informed about all aspects of a contract of this magnitude," he fumed yesterday. "This contract is going to bind the city for the next 15-20 years."

I was on holidays last week and so wasn't able to ask the mayor directly how he plans to pay for the purchase, given that the city is already carrying an enormous amount of debt -- projected to hit $2.2-billion by year's end.

The city is contractually bound to continue trucking its garbage to Michigan until 2010. Yet there's been no indication so far as to how the city will handle the combined costs of owning one landfill site while using another for the next three years. Or which one will actually be used.

(Details, mere details!)