MELANCTHON IS ON THE RADAR

Well truth be told, little old Melancthon has been on someone's radar for a long time - Seth Klarman and Baupost investors.

But thanks to them, NOW we are on Ministry of Natural Resources radar and in fact are so important we now have our own little page on the MNR's great big website.  Check it out:
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/About/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_085704.html

The Minister states:
The Ministry is committed to ensuring an open and transparent licensing application process. Updates on the status of this application will be provided on a regular basis.

She confides that 2,051 written letters were received by the April 26, 2011 deadline and that 3,735 comments were posted to the EBR by the July 11, 2011 deadline.  She must have forgot about the 110,000 Avaaz petitions that were delivered to her office this past week.

If she is truly committed to an open and transparent process, then pdf all the letters and comments received and post them on line for the public to see, because right now the only people privy to them are Highlands. 

The letters submitted do NOT get circulated to any other commenting Ministry, they get counted at MNR and filed. 

THEN when Highlands sends out their registered letter to everyone saying they have met objections based on the information they provided at the mandatory public meeting they held (I call that the Strada strategy), the onus is on the objector to refile their objection within 20 days and THEN go to the OMB on the private citizen's own dime.

Trust me, the MNR, MMAH, OMAFRA, or any other Ministry will NOT see even one of these letters. But if this is truly a transparent process, the objections SHOULD be public.  Names, addresses and all comments.  Everyone who filed a letter or comment on the EBR was told they were filing a public document.

If you have a problem with that, the Minister's email is:

ljeffrey.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Keep a copy of your email, or cc it to any grassroots organization fighting this, because I suspect the email to the Minister will disappear into the black hole after the October 6 provincial election.