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03 | 07 | 2015 VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 10
Elmira gymnast takes pair Of silvers in B.C. SPORTS PAGE 12
COMMENT PAGE 6
Council first needs
to know what it’s buying
Ceremonial first tap done, local syrup producers wait for weather to cooperate
Woolwich split on regional scheme for economic corp.
Scott Barber During the coldest February on record, there was little hope producers would be getting an early jump on maple syrup season. But that didn’t stop organizers of the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, officials with the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association and local politicians from gathering near Heidelberg February 27 for the ceremonial first tap. Asked at the event about how this syrup season was shaping up, OMSPA vice president Terry Hoover joked, “are you kidding me? It’s freezing out here!” Hoover, of Hoover’s Maple Syrup in Atwood, like all syrup producers across the province, is waiting for temperatures to get up to seasonal levels. With February’s record-breaking cold – the average of minus-14.8 was the coldest ever recorded – and the complete lack of above freezing temperatures, the season will come later than usual this year. But once the freeze-thaw cycle begins – with temperatures roughly plus-five Celsius during the day and minus-five overnight – producers will be ready to go. Tapping | 2
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Pair of councillors lose bid for deferral due to lack of information in staff report; township to push ahead STEVE KANNON
Local syrup producer Dale Martin flips a pancake at the ceremonial first tap event hosted by the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association and the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival at George Martin’s sugar bush just south of Heidelberg on Feb. 27. [Scott Barber / The Observer]
Shipping Made Easy.
Short on details, a new economic development plan was nonetheless endorsed by Woolwich council in a split decision Tuesday night. The move commits the township to dropping $160,000 over the next four years on an as-yet-formed or defined Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation (WREDC). A region-wide initiative, the organization would eventually take a collective $2 million a year from residents of the four townships and three cities. Two councillors objected to the plan, noting the scarcity of details in a staff report, paucity of benefits to residents and lack of accountability for the public’s money. Councillors
Patrick Merlihan and Larry Shantz pushed to defer the matter until council could be shown real figures backing the expenditure of residents’ money on the new venture. “There are a lot of things missing,” said Merlihan of the staff report’s lack of real numbers. “I would like a more detailed report.” He said the document was not satisfactory, providing an inadequate amount of information for councillors to make a decision. Calling it “thin on accountability,” he questioned whether the report would make a suitable business plan if the region went to the bank looking for $2 million. The joint economic development strategy came out of efforts by the chief administrative officers WREDC | 5
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