EDITORIAL – Referendum results should be cause for concern in Springfield

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2023 (987 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

News that 96.4 percent of respondents oppose Sio Silica mining silica sand through the aquifer in southeast Manitoba is something that shouldn’t be treated lightly.

Yet that’s exactly what many officials seem to be doing.

Sio Silica is proposing to drill 7,200 wells in southeast Manitoba over 24 years to extract 33 million tonnes of silica sand. They say they can do that safely without harming the water supply.

That put them at odds with several environmental groups and many RM of Springfield residents.

But exactly how many residents are in favour or opposed to the project is really hard to determine.

We know the Clean Environment Commission attracted an incredible amount of opposition.

Mark Miller and Andy Kuczynski, a pair of councillors from the RM of Springfield have made no secret of their opposition to Sio Silica’s plans for the region.

As such they sought to find out exactly what the support for their cause was by hosting a referendum.

The phone in survey saw close to 4,600 people vote against Sio Silica’s involvement with 171 in favour. That’s 96.4 percent opposed.

Yet it seems many aren’t ready to consider this meaningful whatsoever.

Both Mayor Patrick Therrien and Springfield-Ritchot PC incumbent Ron Schuler seem to think it means absolutely nothing.

Now to be fair, there are some problems with the referendum, starting from the fact that it really is not a referendum at all.

A referendum as defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision”. In Canada referendums are binding while plebiscites are not.

Even the use of the word plebiscite suggests authority.

It was organized by two councillors and was not endorsed by the RM council at all. In fact, the RM had considered a referendum but decided to pass on the idea, according to Mayor Patrick Therrien.

Then there’s the question itself.

Allan Akins, a director of the Springfield Taxpayer Rights Corp. which was involved in the survey, told media the question asked people to indicate if they support or oppose “Sio Silica mining in our aquifer”.

The question is somewhat leading, as who in their right mind would advocate for any type of mining in any aquifer? But it’s not inaccurate as that is where the mining occurs.

Organizers are also not sure how many votes came from within the RM of Springfield. While the results eliminated out of province votes and duplicate numbers they had no way of determining what percentage of their results were local.

The RM of Springfield is home to just over 16,000 people as of the 2021 census. If those calls were all local that’s about a 33 percent turnout, a staggering amount.

Organizers think most of them would be local. After all, it’s where the referendum was publicized.

And they’re likely right. Unfortunately there’s no way to narrow down that number for sure.

The group also appointed who they describe as highly respected people in the community to act as scrutineers, to ensure everything was done above board.

But when asked who they were, they raised their hands from within the ranks of those opposed.

That doesn’t mean there was any dishonesty of course, but the optics would have been much better if they had selected a mix of people in favour, opposed and neutral on the project to act in that role.

Despite those small problems it is clear there is massive opposition, which makes the reaction by some politicians bizarre to say the least.

Mayor Patrick Therrien was more concerned with getting the news out that the referendum was not endorsed by the RM than he was on considering the ramifications. He would not comment on how he felt about the numbers, though he did say it “creates more questions than answers”.

Springfield-Ritchot PC incumbent candidate Ron Schuler went even further.

During an interview with The Carillon he called it a “fake referendum”, one that he said was paid for by “some wealthy people” resulting in an outcome that will also “be paid for”.

Now Schuler himself has benefitted from campaign donations from wealthy people as well. Does that mean his opinion is suspect?

It’s inevitable that a grassroots movement will attract wealthy donors. That does not mean the result is suspect.

Schuler couldn’t bring himself to comment on an issue where there is significant concern in the community.

It’s one thing to advocate for the current process to continue, to say he trusts the Clean Environment Commission’s report to be considered properly by government officials.

It’s quite another to disparage an entire municipality, and claim that even addressing the issue is working “in the abstract”.

It’s clear there is opposition to this in the municipality though exactly how much is difficult to determine.

But when the mayor and MLA both don’t even dare address the issue, it does not show leadership and forthrightness. They owe their ratepayers courage and honesty, and need to reassess their communication on this issue.