I have tried a great many times to get your attention. To hope that one or two or three of you might
even reply to my emails. To no avail.
I read a story in the latest Barrie Advance in which Laurie Watt writes about the Stakes being raised
in the lawsuit of CGI v Barrie, Barrie Staff and the Mayor.
Perhaps she might sometime write another story in which she tells us that individual Councillors are named.
And over what? Well, in my humble opinion, staff have mishandled the Allandale Railway Lands. COVERUP springs to mind!
I have no doubt from reading the material on your barrie.ca website that staff knew about major contamination in the 9 acre parcel. Before the land was offered for sale to CGI. The reports are dated such that as far back as 2010 this contamination had been identified and quantified. It is all there in black and white. And in a few colourful photos you can look at on
I suppose the Mayor and the legal personnel have told you that, because of the lawsuit you as councillors are not allowed to comment. Well, maybe. Maybe not. Is there a COVERUP?
If what you are told not to comment on has the potential to affect my health, my neighbour's health and
the health of everyone in Barrie, you have a legal responsibility to make sure everyone in Barrie knows about the problem.
And you should be taking the steps needed to remedy the problem. That is your job. Or is there a COVERUP happening?
I have obtained a copy of the environmental report done for the people at CGI. It is available for you to read on
http://answermethisbarrie.blogspot.ca/if you haven't already read it. There are even some colourful photos
with comments. Comments that should get you to think about what impact the contamination is having
on Kempenfelt Bay and on my health and the health of the citizens of Allandale.
Does the name Erin Brokovitch ring a bell. She won $300 million in a lawsuit where Chromium contamination
was the villain. And the railway lands have plenty of Chromium.
If there is something being done that breaks the law, you cannot be a part of it. When Barrie sold the train station to the CHUM Group
was an appraisal performed? How about environmental testing? This testing is a legal requirement. I am friends with a number of major developers
in Canada. Anytime they put a property up for sale they must perform an environmental assessment. These assessments can get costly.
But the penalties for not performing them are severe. Not to dismiss the follow-up lawsuits. COVERUPS come back to bite you in the a--.
The test reports done for the city of Barrie actually support CGI's contention that they were kept in the dark during project negotiations.
You cannot read these reports and not come to the same conclusion. CGI wasn't told about the contamination
problems until Novemeber 2012, long after the final test was completed according to Laurie Watt's article.
As an aside, the environmental testing that I am familiar with is far more extensive than what was performed by Golder. For sure a minimum 200 test holes should have been done.
The August 2012 report performed for CGI and posted on my blog - http://answermethisbarrie.blogspot.ca/
clearly underlines the extent of the contamination and also investigates the travel of pollutants/contaminants
to Kempenfelt Bay. This information is very concerning.
In around December of 2012 the city had a 10 foot x 10 foot storm sewer installed across the affected lands terminating at Kempenfelt Bay.
It rained a lot during construction. Water could be seen running off large piles of excavated dirt dug up on the site to allow installation of the sewer.
The run-off found its way into storm sewers along the service road and Lakeshore Drive. And then it went into Kempenfelt Bay!
And all this while you were told not to comment. COVERUP?
After the sewer was installed, many dump trucks were loaded with soil from the train site and hauled away to Toronto,
To a soil remediator – Green Soils. Yet staff reported NO contamination save a bit and nothing to be concerned with.
Then why was the soil sent to be cleaned? And what did it cost us. I have a right to know how much this cost.
Tell me please!
May I suggest that you read the Code of Conduct for Council. Test your actions so far against the code. NO COVERUPS ALLOWED.
But more than that, do your job. Ask hard questions. Don’t be part of the COVERUP, Get to the truth.
And you should reach out to the people at CGI. Reach a compromise. Settle and move on.
And clean up Kempenfelt Bay! PLEASE!
be well,
Peter Ramsay
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