PORT HAWKESBURY: Town councillors defeated a motion to hold a plebiscite on a controversial component of the Destination Reeves Street Project.
During the regular monthly meeting on November 6 at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, town councillor Hughie MacDougall presented a motion to ask residents if they support reducing Reeves Street from four lanes to three lanes.
MacDougall and Mark McIver, the town’s new deputy mayor, voted in favour of the plebiscite, while the town’s mayor, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton and Trevor Boudreau voted against for a 2-2 result. According to the Municipal Government Act, a tied vote on a motion classifies as a defeated motion.
Boudreau, who clearly voiced his opinion against the plebiscite, advised council that a plebiscite is non-binding, which means this council or the next council could do whatever they want, regardless of the result.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there on the project, so what that tells me is if we set up a vote, where people are very passionate, and very emotional about something; that’s how their making their decision,” he said. “They’re making their decision on emotion, rather than fact, or having all the information.”
Boudreau said he doesn’t see a plebiscite solving any of the town’s problems, but only creating more, as it will divide the community.
“I just don’t understand how we’ve gotten to this point, and I’m very disappointed in all of us, quite frankly, because for a $5 million project that’s supposed to be positive for the community – we’re making a mockery of it,” he said. “We’re talking about having a plebiscite on a road that we don’t even have all the information on.”
Erin MacEachen, the town’s finance director, advised council that a plebiscite would cost an estimated $17,000.
Mayor Chisholm-Beaton said due to the confusion surrounding, she wouldn’t support the plebiscite as a public vote isn’t necessary at this point.
“I found that the motion was premature at this stage of the game – we can certainly look at ways that we can engage citizens if there’s still concerns out there, absolutely,” she said following the meeting. “Before the end of the pilot, I absolutely think that we should be engaging with our citizens to ask them ‘How is this working for you?’”
Chisholm-Beaton said the reduction of three lanes will be done as a pilot project, so residents can try the road for themselves, before making an informed decision if they want to keep the re-designed roadway.
“They can actually speak from a place of experience instead of speaking from a place of fear,” she said. “They’re basing a decision on misinformation, or not enough information.”
Chisholm-Beaton said it’s not as simple as asking residents what they think of a road before they have a chance to try the new design.
“We [can’t] expect our citizens to be traffic engineers to make that kind of a decision, but they will be empowered by the experience by driving on that road during the pilot phase to make an informed decision.”