The mayor-elect of South Bruce says he's committed to providing residents all information as it becomes available when it comes to a plans to build a deep geologic repository to store used nuclear fuel in the municipality.
Mark Goetz earned 1,311 votes in the recent municipal election, beating both incumbent Robert Buckle (788) and Rita Groen (also 788).
"The main issue in this election was blown way out of proportion" says Goetz, who has been a union president at Wescast Inc. in Wingham for 20 years. He says voters will still have their say on the DGR issue at a later date in a referendum, but "not until all impacts are examined by council and distributed to the public."
Goetz says he could box in everyone he talked to on the campaign trail into three categories when it comes to the DGR.
"People dead against the project, ones for the project, and the largest majority, which is undecided," he said. "....but I've always told people nobody should be in favour or against it at this point, not until all the information is gathered and testing done, and then make an informed decision."
South Bruce's next mayor also knows that the issue will repeatedly come up over the next four years. But over that time, he hopes his own questions about the DGR can be answered, especially when it comes to the impact it would have on other businesses in the area.
"We need to make sure that case is solid, but not just for a few years, but a million years. We're looking after something for a future generation," he said.
