A thirty year tragedy is being exposed once again. Local, and well renowned, naturalist Richard Pope and the Preservation Group – Preserve Our Heritage Harbour (POHP) is again advocating for supervision and accountability with regards to the West Headland of the Cobourg Harbour.

The group’s (POHP) big beef is with Council over the activities of the Public Works Department’s dredging and supposed reclamation of the Headland. One can read all about the problems if one visits the excellent website – https://www.cobourgharbour.ca/  This site is actively presenting all of the problems with the establishment of the Nature Park and the actions of this Council. Suffice to say the Council does not look good in this light.

Richard Pope, who was once a member of the now defunct Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee has appeared before Council many times exhorting for greater supervision and the need for a more extensive plan than the one that the Town says it is adhering to. Richard’s constant appearances over the years pushing for changes to past and recent activities really is wearying to both Richard and the Councils of the day. It is even more aggravating now that the Council, pushed by the Mayor and Senior Staff, have destroyed local democracy by eliminating Citizen Advisory Councils to Council. There is no way a Citizen, or a Group of Citizens, can push for change in this system. In fact Richard’s latest effort to engage public opinion has to take place in the form of a ‘Letter to the Editor’ on a local news blog – read it here.

BUT THE ISSUE FOR US at the BurdReport is that this really the first demonstration of what the public warned Council about during the study and adoption of a new Procedural Bylaw – the destruction of Local Democracy.

In the reorganisation of Local Democracy, Council first eliminated the Public Advisory Committees and then made it impossible for a local Citizen or Group to appear at a Committee meeting or a Regular Council Meeting more than once at either of those venues to discuss the same topic. So if you have a beef you only get one public appearance, for five minutes, to express concerns or support of any issue.

The Mayor and Council supported by Senior Staff – come on down Brent Larmer – have said they have replaced the Advisory Councils with Task Forces, but we have yet to see one established. The topic of the destruction of the Headland and the consequent inadequate reclamation should be the topic of a Task Force.

Extract from Richard Pope’s letter to the Editor

“In my memo of December 4, 2024, on “The Waterfront Nature Park and its Immediate Environs,” I floated the idea of an ad hoc committee that would include members of the public, a member or members of Council, Director Geerts and staff to discuss plans for the area (including the threatened and declining West Beach) and how best to manage nature in light of the up-coming harbour repairs.

Is this too much to ask? Surely the Town is accountable to the public.”

What better way to respond to a problem that will not go away as long as there are dissatisfied and angry, Citizens. They have ideas for the Headland, they keep butting up to the implementation of hidden plans created by bureaucracy – all the Citizens are asking is that the project be opened up to transparency and oversight. The ‘Pesky Public’ will be gone after the  Task Force is disbanded when the project is completed.

We cannot let Civil Servants ram through their ideas in the name of efficiency without accountability to someone other than the busy, overloaded CAO.

The POHP website was setup when the issue of harbour expansion was being mooted, on the website there is a page called “ACTION” the action asked for a few years ago is just as important now as then. Some of the the ideas suggested for action are still valid:

• emailing the Mayor and members of Council – click here for the addresses
• Talk to your neighbours and friends about the issue and advocate for a Task Force to be set up

The important thing here is we should all have an opinion about this issue.