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Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter to speak against provincial arbitration of land annexation issue

Chapter activist Roy Brady

The Council of Canadians Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter will be presenting to City Council this coming May 15 on the City of Peterborough’s proposal to ask the provincial government to arbitrate on a land annexation issue.

The Peterborough Examiner reports, “City council will vote a final time on Monday on a plan to ask the provincial government to step into the stalemate over the proposed annexation between Cavan Monaghan Township and the City of Peterborough. But first, citizens get to speak up. Roy Brady, the chairman of the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, is the only one pre-registered to speak at City Hall.”

The article explains, “After more than 20 years of on-and-off negotiations, the city and township agreed on a deal recently to allow the city 4,140 acres of township land – including the Peterborough Airport. The idea was to give the city much-needed industrial land to the southwest of the current city limits.”


It further explains, “City officials had reached a deal to pay the township $2.5 million a year over 25 years for the annexation of the land. But city council wanted to be able to pay less upfront while gradually increasing payments. Township council rejected the idea and refused to negotiate further, placing the deal in limbo. On May 8, councillors gave preliminary approval to a plan to tell the provincial government that the deal is too expensive for the city – and ask the province to set the boundary.”

Brady argues, “Local democracy should decide this issue, not the province. The negotiated agreement passed by the Township but stalled by the City suggests room for completing an agreement – or dropping it altogether. Asking the province to arbitrate the negotiated deal between the City and the Township is foolish.”

The Examiner will be livestreaming, tweeting and blogging from the meeting.