By John Francis
So Bruce County pushed ahead with its Development Charge of $7,800 per new house despite the objections of Northern Bruce Peninsula. Our Council and our Mayor pointed out repeatedly that the infrastructure Bruce County proposes to build with the money is almost entirely south of the checkerboard — MNBP gets next to nothing.
This keeps happening, because Northern Bruce Peninsula is so different from the other seven municipalities in Bruce County.
How would you convey that in an editorial cartoon? Seven tractors and a tour boat? Seven beef cattle and a kayak? There are so many ways that we are unlike the rest of the county. (And as to the cartoon — it’s kind of moot because I can’t draw anyway…)
But the (excellent) Emergency Response Plan in MNBP’s November 27 Council Agenda put another frame around the issue. MNBP has a comprehensive set of Emergency Plans for every disaster they could imagine. Literally. Five of those individual plans are included in the Agenda for the November 27 Council Meeting. It gives you an insight into how much MNBP does with your tax dollars.
But what does this have to do with Bruce County?
Let’s think about emergency services and small towns. What would you do if…?
Imagine you live in Lucknow and something goes drastically wrong. How would you escape, or how would you bring in disaster relief? Well, there’s County Road 1 to the north or south, or County Road 86 to the east or west plus various lines and concessions.
And if you lived in Ripley? Same deal: County Road 6 to the east and west or County Road 7 to the north or south. Plus the network of lines and concessions.
And if you lived in Paisley? Well, there’s County Road 1 to the west, County Road 11 to the east and County Road 3 to the north or south. Plus lines and concessions.
Are you noticing a pattern here?
What happens if one of the major roads is blocked by a fire or a crash or a washed-out bridge? Then you use one of the other three major roads. All paid for and maintained by Bruce County. No worries, ma’am, it’s all part of the service.
But if you live in Tobermory? Well there’s Provincial Highway 6 to the southeast. That’s it. No county roads at all, let alone one in each direction.
What would happen in Tobermory if some kind of disaster blocked Hwy 6?
Well, glad you asked! Northern Bruce Peninsula has the aforementioned superb collection of disaster plans. They have literally thought of everything that could go wrong and how to deal with it.
The ferry could take 600 people to South Baymouth, but what would they do when they got there? There are no facilities there and no buses to take them further. And after a couple of trips, the ferry would run out of fuel anyway. It’s a specialized fuel that comes up from London — wait for it — on Highway 6.
The point I am coming around to is this: if Highway 6 is blocked anywhere north of Miller Lake, the main way to get supplies in and people out is Tobermory’s airport. It’s a surprisingly capable airport. A Canadian Forces Hercules aircraft can land there fully loaded and can take off with about 3/4 load. That would move a lot of people and supplies. Our emergency response plans rely heavily on that airport.
Tobermory Airport is fully funded by the municipal taxes of MNBP property owners.
Bruce County would never even consider funding Tobermory’s airport. Why would they? They don’t fund airports anywhere else in the county…
But let’s do a thought experiment here. Imagine you had a county in which all the municipalities looked the same. Eight bananas instead of seven bananas and a monkey wrench. (Insert gif image of slot machine disgorging huge pile of loonies).
Imagine a county where all the municipalities are big and sparsely populated, with lots of bush and cliffs and shorelines, where all the communities have a single road in and out. A county with eight municipalities that all look just like us.
Would that county create and maintain a network of bush trails to provide alternative emergency access to communities?
Would that county fund and manage the airports and helipads?
Would that county have a high angle (cliff) rescue team? (Rather than just saying “All the cliffs are in MNBP; let them deal with it…”)
What other services would that imaginary county provide to eight municipalities that all look like MNBP? Boat launches? Recreational trails? Shuttle buses? I’m just scratching the surface here…
Instead, we’re stuck in a situation where all the stuff the other municipalities need is laid on by the county, but all the stuff MNBP needs is paid for by MNBP. I don’t know what we can do, other than continuing to point out the disparities.
The solution is political. We need to move the goalposts.
