Kincardine Mayor Kenneth Craig in his official photo, wearing the Chain of Office. (Photo via the Municipality of Kincardine)
Kincardine Council is responding positively to this week’s announcement of the provincial government’s support of Bruce Power exploring expansion.
Energy Minister Todd Smith made the announcement on Wednesday.
Kincardine Mayor Kenneth Craig shared his enthusiasm for the announcement at Wednesday’s council meeting, saying that although the support is there, the project likely won’t happen immediately.
“It could be five years, it could be seven years, it could be ten years before there’s a shovel there,” he said to council. “But, the pre-consultation process will start soon. The engagement with communities, with our Indigenous neighbours, the background and the paperwork will start soon.”
Craig then gave each councillor the opportunity to share their reaction to the announcement, allowing them to give their input on the topic, and each councillor shared their positive outlook on what the expansion would mean for the community.
The mayor explained all the different ways that such a large expansion would affect the surrounding municipalities, especially Kincardine.
“There will be a lot of discussions absolutely about a lot of aspects that are taking on new dimensions that we will have to prepare for,” he said.
He added, “I commented that each one of the neighbouring communities — Saugeen Shores, Huron-Kinloss, the County of Bruce, the County of Grey, we all have particular roles to play as local municipal governments.
“There continues to be a meeting planned in September regarding the land inventory… it’s been planned with Bruce County staff to assess and establish where we might have appropriate lands for housing inventory. With this announcement, the importance of that meeting has skyrocketed. Regarding the direction of community development within the village of Tiverton, along the lakeshore, within the urban boundaries of Kincardine itself, the discussions that we will have starting in September over the next year, or two years, are enormous.”