FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Provincial Issues Have Local Impact in North Pickering –
Residents Tutor New Cast of Candidates in Pickering-Uxbridge
Whitevale, ON, June 3, 2018: Thursday will mark the 13th provincial election since the North Pickering expropriation of 1972. The controversy surrounding these lands continues even decades after families were stripped of their homes and hopes by both the federal and provincial governments of the day.
“The governments have changed but the issues remain the same,” says Sandy Rider, long-time resident of Whitevale, “it’s almost as if the governments hope the issues will be forgotten as we die away – but in North Pickering that will never be the case!”
In an effort to ensure that these issues are not forgotten, the Whitevale & District Residents’ Association (WDRA) will be hosting a “Meet the Candidates” event on June 5th at 7:30 pm at the Whitevale Community Centre. This gathering will provide a venue for residents to bring candidates up-to-speed and for the candidates to share their personal and party views on these issues that will impact not only Pickering residents, but residents throughout the eastern/north-eastern GTA. This evening is meant to be a casual, non-combative opportunity for open dialogue with all Pickering-Uxbridge candidates (except the Liberal candidate who will not be present).
“Our residents have spent more than four decades working with governments at all levels in an effort to see the best case scenario come from the cruel expropriation,” exclaimed Julie Schembri, President of the WDRA. “The real challenge has been that with every change of government comes a complete change of direction”
Construction is underway on current plans for North Pickering that will see the addition of 30,000 new residents over the next five years. This number will grow to over 70,000 by the time development is complete. This means an almost doubling of population of the City of Pickering with very little change to the local and surrounding infrastructure and available services.
“After all these years, North Pickering continues to be powder keg ready to blow,” added Schembri. “You can’t create a new community the size of Sarnia, in such short timeframe, without careful planning and funding for infrastructure and services. We need to ensure that our provincial representative keeps North Pickering on the map at Queen’s Park.”
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