Wrong location for Canadian Tire facility

March 27, 2013 · 0 Comments

Yes, Bolton and Caledon residents seems to be harsh against Canadian Tire’s application to have the largest trucking facility in Canada located next to existing residences in Bolton like New Elwood, Harvest Moon, The Rose, and a large school.
We are talking here that diesel fumes from trucks going in and out of the facility and from dozens more idling will be inhaled 24 hours a day by hundreds of adults and school children.
Canadian Tire was looking for the most economic and cheap location for their high pollution diesel exhaust trucking facility. In the last article posted in the local papers, the Mayor mentioned that an average of 350 trucks will be going in and out of the proposed facility instead of 179 a day, a figure previously given by Canadian Tire at the November public meeting. So, what is the figure? With those questions in mind, I consider any pollution study results submitted by Peel Environmental, or any other environmental agent assigned by Caledon council or Canadian Tire, as worthless, because they have been supplied with false numbers. Whatever environmental results document is published, will also be mailed to the David Suzuki Foundation for close scrutiny.
I’ll still go by the earlier number of the 800 trucks a day, and 291,000 trucks a year as the proper estimate. As a senior mechanical designer who has designed numerous large industrial facilities in Canada and abroad, new facilities are built with expected expansion in the future. Therefore, if there is an average of 350 trucks a day now, that number will quickly grow to hundreds more per day.
For Caledon council to assign the Coleraine Drive and Healey Road location in Bolton, a location very close to existing residences and a large school, for Canadian Tire’s huge diesel trucking facility is absurd and, in my opinion, criminal. Caledon council knows what the consequences are for the nearby residences. According to Dr. David Suzuki, the most prominent and well known Canadian scientist and expert on all kinds of pollution and numerous other scientific studies, diesel exhaust is very toxic and 100 times more toxic than gasoline exhaust. It will cause respiratory diseases and cancer as well as a host of other serious diseases. The diesel exhaust from the trucks, if located at Coleraine and Healey Roads in Bolton, will travel a lot farther than the 600 meters from the existing residences and school.
Mayor Morrison’s argument in the article implied, that it’s better to have one huge pollution facility in a single location rather than a number of smaller pollution facilities spread out within the same area. This is absolute nonsense. It is the responsibility of the Caledon council to protect its residents from being engulfed by pollution, and to protect our rights by not putting pollution facilities right in our back yards.
The Canadian Tire facility being such a very important health issue for Bolton residents, it will show decency if the Mayor and the Bolton councillors Rob Mezzapelli and Patti Foley mail each household in Bolton a letter, on Town letter head and delivered by Canada Post, outlining what the Town of Caledon is proposing and what pollution monster will be located in their back yards.
The Bolton residents are not against a Canadian Tire trucking facility, but we are against the location, which is too close to existing residences and a large school.
John Van Eeden,
Bolton