BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
[email protected]
Valley East area residents enthusiastically threw their support behind a movement to do away with the current structure of Greater Sudbury at a meeting attended by more than 100 people in Hanmer Monday night.
Ward 3 city councillor Andre Rivest, who represents the area, organized the meeting so his constituents could learn about a petition started by some Chelmsford and Azilda residents.
The petition, which has already been signed by more than 1,000 people, asks for a referendum to be held on de-amalgamation, or breaking the City of Greater Sudbury up into its former components.
The document will eventually be presented to the provincial government.
Rivest started the evening by asking how many people in the crowded room at Centennial Arena were dissatisfied with the current structure of the city.
Everybody raised their hands.
During a question and answer session, people complained about the high taxes and poor services under the new city. But perhaps the most vitriolic response came from Frank Mazzuca, who served as Mayor of Capreol for more than 30 years.
The 84-year-old, who spoke at first from the back of the room but was eventually led to the microphone by Rivest, said he was sure the people of Capreol would sign the petition.
"I haven't got any more pride, because I feel like they took something away from me when they took away the mayor and council out of the municipality," he said, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
"It was a great thing to call up the mayor and say, 'A dog shit on my lawn, what are you going to do about it?' When they'd call me I'd tell them, 'Not my dog, not my lawn, not my shit.' Things were pretty good. You can't do that now."
Mazzuca also spoke about high water rates, poor roads and user fees at the local dump.
Ward 2 city councillor Claude Berthiaume was also at the meeting.
Berthiaume, who represents the Rayside-Balfour area, introduced a notice of motion in January asking for a referendum on de-amalgamation.
Every councillor except Berthiaume and Rivest voted to waive the normal two-week waiting time for the motion, and the idea was defeated at the same meeting.
Although provincial Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs John Gerretsen insists de-amalgamation will only be considered if it is approved by local council, Berthiaume is certain he will be forced to listen if enough people sign the petition.
The councillor urged the residents to take a copy of the petition with them and pass it around to their friends, family and co-workers.
Robert Perreault of Hanmer said he was willing to sign the petition because his taxes have skyrocketed since amalgamation and services are much worse.
"They're still going to be raising taxes again this year, the water went up sky-high, and we had better service before," he said. "I hope we do get the referendum on this."
