BOWMANVILLE --- It might have been cold outside, but incineration had about 100 protestors burning up Temperance Street Monday night.
The protest was organized by those opposed to the incinerator, which the regions of Durham and York propose building in Courtice.
Marchers, carrying signs indicating their opposition to the plan, spent about an hour trooping up and down the block between King and Church streets, despite the thermometer hitting -15 C.
Mayor Jim Abernethy's decision to invite several seemingly pro-incineration delegations to council, as part of a series to look at the options in terms of disposing of waste, prompted the most recent protest.
"What Mayor Abernethy has done is absolutely ridiculous as far as I'm concerned," said Wayne Ellis, one of the protest's organizers.
Clarington resident Eric Wiggans said he was there as a "concerned parent and grandparent."
"I feel like they're building this without investigating it as much as they should," he said as he stood at King and Temperance streets, bracing himself against the wind.
Long-time Clarington resident Doug Hart said he's concerned incineration is being viewed as a silver bullet to get rid of garbage.
"I don't believe the garbage is gone" after incineration, he said. "They're painting this as a solution for garbage being gone but it's going to be falling down all around us," in the form of pollution.
Specifically inviting people to speak positively about incineration isn't fair, Mr. Hart said.
"I'm not happy with the way the pro (incineration) people have been invited by our mayor," he said. "He's not speaking for the people who put him in the position."
But the mayor defended the decision to hold the information session during the council meeting, saying there will also be experts in other forms of waste management, including landfill and Zero Waste strategies, invited to future meetings.
"Everyone seems to know what they don't want to do with (garbage) but no one can get on the same page about what they do want to do with it," Mayor Abernethy said. "You have the right to disagree, but I think it's important that we as a council and as a community look at all of the options available to us."
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