A couple years ago, Barrie was still very unaware of the intricacies of, and the environmental impacts associated with ethanol production.
A few residents came together on learning of plans to construct an Ethanol Plant inside of Barrie's borders less than one kilometer from schools, parks and residential subdivisions. They brought with them the right mix of foresight concern and civic duty to investigate the dangers in overlapping the buffer zones of ethanol plants and populated regions and they shared their still expanding knowledge and concerns with the people of Barrie.
Along with opening my and many thousands of Barrie residents’ eyes, their shared awareness enlightened Barrie City council, our current MP, a former MPP and our local media while helping to hone the positions and responsibilities of the ministry of the environment.This group’s efforts should go down in the municipal history books as having contributed to saving our city from permanent stigma and a course change that would have stifled our vital tourism industry and stripped Barrie of a proud reputation as being a save clean place to live.
Those few individuals, who rallied volunteers together for a cause and became known as CARE in Barrie, gave us the confidence to believe that yes, you can (and you should) challenge government and big business when the cause is just.
They can hold their heads high and Barrie can be grateful we have such dedicated citizens in our midst.
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