Chatham-Kent's mayor is taking the fight against a Dresden landfill expansion right to Queen's Park.
Noting he has not heard anything more from the province recently on Bill 5, CK Mayor Darrin Canniff is set to make a presentation via Zoom on Thursday to the Standing Committee that is reviewing the proposed legislation.
Canniff said he will get seven minutes to make his case before a number of MPPs.
"I will be talking to people from the province and working very hard to have this not happen -- it's an absolutely ridiculous thing," said Canniff.
The Mayor said his presentation will also include some video footage of a walk that he took with North Kent Councillors Rhonda Jubenville and Jamie McGrail from the dump site right into Dresden.
"Within a little over 10 minutes, we walked from the dump site into Downtown Dresden... it really shows we should not be having that [landfill expansion] there," said Canniff. "I'm going to talk about how basically the amount of time I have [for the presentation] is the amount of time it took me to walk from the dump site to the downtown."
Canniff said his presentation to the Standing Committee will also "humanize" Dresden, not just showing a map but also highlighting all of the great things that happen there.
Mayor Canniff will be joined by several municipal staff members including Chief Administrative Officer Michael Duben and Director of Legal Services Dave Taylor for the Zoom meeting.
Bill 5, dubbed the "Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025" by the province, includes the possibility of removing an environmental assessment (EA) requirement for a proposed landfill expansion near Dresden, making it easier for the company that owns the land to grow the dump site.
The bill was referred to a Standing Committee after passing a vote on May 6 during the Second Reading stage with a 70-43 vote.
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault, whose riding includes the proposed landfill expansion site, did not participate in that vote. He did share a statement on social media late last week, though, saying that while he does not support the landfill, "no matter how I vote, it's not going to change the outcome."
There is no set amount of time that the bill could stay in the committee stage, but after it is reviewed by the Committee, it will be reported back to the House. At that point, it could be sent to another Committee or directly to a final debate.