Toronto – (October 2, 2000)
On Monday, Oct. 2, 2000, at Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth, at 7 pm, a public debate will take place on the topic: “Should Toronto Ship Our Garbage to Our North?”
Invited guests include City Council candidate Gail Nyberg, Councillor Jack Layton, former Edmonton City Councillor Tooker Gomberg, Deputy Mayor Case Ootes, and Mayor Lastman.
Ootes and Lastman have declined the invitation to participate in this debate.
“One reason politicians are held in low regard by the public, I believe, is because they refuse to stand for anything, and they avoid debating issues with their constituents. With just six weeks to an election, why would Mr. Lastman be afraid to explain his views and defend them in a public forum? Without debate democracy suffocates.”
“As City Councillor in Edmonton in 1993 I spearheaded a move away from building a new dump, to a solution to the garbage problem that is good for the local economy, protects the environment, and has brought Edmonton international praise and attention. The answer is composting — not a new technology. It is as old as the hills. And it is Toronto’s future.”
“Over the past two months I have been speaking with thousands of Torontonians about garbage, and they are aghast at the mistake that Mayor Lastman and Council seem hell-bent on making. Council has a clear choice: dispose of garbage in the old polluting way, and spend huge sums of money trying to get rid of the stuff, or move forward into the new, ecological millennium. Voters will have a similar choice on Nov. 13.”