Monday night saw city council hold its first meeting since before Christmas for consideration of regular business, including recommendations from its standing committees. And it was brisk. The public part of the meeting lasted just two hours, ending at 9 p.m. and leaving councillors plenty of time to watch the end of the Academy Awards show, if they so chose.
It’s too bad council didn’t take the time for a fulsome debate on an issue that could have a major impact on Guelph’s future – namely, whether the city should press the province for a new highway connection to Greater Toronto Area communities north of Highway 401.
Council went against recommendations from city staff and from the Guelph Chamber of Commerce in defeating a motion about this highway on a 6-6 tie vote, without much discussion or debate. It hardly seems a way to inspire public confidence in council’s decision making.
A city staff report warned that going along with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario’s current plan to have the proposed GTA West highway end at Milton would have adverse consequences for Guelph, including an over-used Hanlon Expressway that would inevitably need to be widened to six lanes in the future. The chamber of commerce warned council that “second-rate transportation” isn’t good enough for Guelph, which has always been part of a key economic development zone.
You’d have thought a full debate on the issue, with most if not all council members explaining their thinking, would have suited its importance – and maybe even changed some minds and produced more of a consensus.
They certainly had the time.