MAPLETON – Enbridge gas advisor Desirée Swance asked council here to express support for Ontario’s Natural Gas Expansion Program, and the mayor and councillors quickly obliged.
Council discussed Enbridge’s request during a meeting on Sept. 9, during which they passed a resolution to endorse “access to natural gas as an option to other energy solutions to advance Mapleton’s housing, employment lands, economic development objectives and agricultural priorities.”
The resolution directs staff to submit comments to the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Mines reflecting Mapleton’s priorities for natural gas, including sites and corridors where gas access would enable housing and employment developments.
Mayor Gregg Davidson said provincial officials need to understand “farmers in rural Ontario need to have natural gas to be more profitable and to be doing greater work in the community while we’re out producing food.
“It will be much better for every farmer if we had natural gas.”
He said township staffs’ comments to the ministry should reflect how natural gas expansion would support Mapleton’s farmers, industry and housing.
“It’s very important that we provide these comments for them,” he said.
The ministry is accepting comments until Sept. 22, which is why the mayor and councillors quickly passed the resolution to do so – if they’d waited until the next council meeting to pass the resolution, they would have missed the commenting window.
“We didn’t want to miss the commenting period because if there’s an opportunity that we could get natural gas down our side roads and lines, then let’s do that,” Davidson said.
Councillor Marlene Ottens said on her family farm they need to use a truck of propane every day when the dryer is running to dry corn.
“Your farm alone would use a lot of natural gas to do that drying,” Davidson said.
According to Mapleton’s resolution, most of which is an exact copy of a proposed resolution provided by Enbridge, “natural gas continues to play a critical role in supporting energy affordability, economic competitiveness, and enabling housing and employment growth across the province.”
“Ontario’s energy future relies on a balance of affordability, reliability and sustainability by leveraging a mix of energy solutions – including natural gas, electricity, and emerging energy technologies, to meet growing community needs,” the resolution states.
