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How is it possible for a water system that was clearly municipal in 1982 to legally morph into a non-municipal and private water system 40 years later?
That, in a nutshell, is what has happened to the Zone 1 water system in Horseshoe Valley. This simple question has a very long and complex answer, an answer which involves, among other things, amalgamation, bankruptcy, the Walkerton water tragedy, lack of goodwill, and faded memories.
In 1979, at the request of Zone 1 property owners, Medonte Township applied to upgrade the Zone 1 water system to provincial standards. The township proceeded through the use of the Local Improvement Act and other provincial legislation.
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) automatically became directly involved, under the terms of the OMB Act.
The OMB not only superintended all the improvements; it also facilitated the passage of six Medonte bylaws, all relating directly to the planning, execution, financing, certification and assumption by Medonte Township of the Zone 1 water system.
Now, more than 40 years later, the Government of Ontario, through the Barrie office of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), is not recognizing that the Zone 1 upgrades were completed as planned, and that official certificates of approval, signed by professional engineers, were issued.
However, the content of the OMB’s file on the upgrades leaves no doubt whatsoever that the Zone 1 water system was indeed upgraded and was municipal in 1982. In fact, any suggestion that Zone 1 is now ‘non-municipal’ and ‘private’ is a legal impossibility. To suggest that the upgrades did not occur is pure fiction.
Between 1979 and 1982, the OMB, a branch of the Government of Ontario, created File No. E-80700, a very complete record of all the upgrades to provincial standards that were made to the Zone 1 water system. Almost a year ago, researchers retrieved, read and copied, with permission, this entire long-forgotten OMB file, which was safely tucked away in the Archives of Ontario at York University. This file contains irrefutable proof that the Zone 1 water system was municipal in 1982.
Once a water system achieves municipal status, it is virtually impossible for it to legally become non-municipal and private.
Just as the Great Charter of Freedoms of 1215, sealed by King John and his nobles at Runnymede more than 800 years ago, remains valid and in force, and forms the foundation of the rule of law and the basis of our rights and freedoms today, OMB File No. E-80700 remains as valid today as it was 40 years ago in that it proves and protects the municipal status of the Zone 1 water system.
In my opinion, the various attempts that were executed in the intervening years to dilute and terminate the municipal status of the Zone 1 water system were misguided.
Ontario’s courts and the recently appointed MECP minister, who is also the MPP for the riding of Barrie-Innisfil, the Hon. Andrea Khanjin, must exercise the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon to sort through and resolve the mess that is currently the Zone 1 water system in Horseshoe Valley.
Larry Herr
Oro-Medonte
