PUBLIC STATEMENT – The Township of Ignace
On April 29, 2024, a draft agreement appeared publicly on the upcoming agenda released by the Municipality of South Bruce, for their Council’s consideration and signing for their upcoming May 1, 2024, Special Meeting. The agreement was received earlier that morning and briefly analyzed by Township of Ignace Council, staff, and advisors.
At first glance, the Municipality of South Bruce agreement seems to be more than double that of the Township of Ignace, but once you begin to conduct a simple per capita amount analysis of their agreement based on their population base, housing/homes, location of the proposed DGR including taxation factors, it is a much different picture. “That said, we are very different communities with unique characteristics and goals, and we, in Ignace remain proud and steadfast to have been the first community in this willingness process to be out of the gate with the NWMO by signing our hosting agreement in March 2024”, stated Mayor Kim Baigrie.
The South Bruce agreement includes base factors such as population figures - which are five times that of Ignace (5600 vs 1200) and the number of homes/housings that is almost four times greater (2381 vs 644) than Ignace and include the direct taxation amount of the DGR which is located within their municipal boundaries. When this significant amount is deducted from the proposed DGR (25%) because it is situated within the boundaries of their community and includes two other villages and you conduct the calculation on a per capita basis, the Township of Ignace corrected amount far exceeds that of South Bruce ($150k vs $56k).
Another important factor to consider is the after the site operations are closed, a monitoring phase begins which, in South Bruce includes calculations for revenue for the community for up to 138 years, as the property tax/special facility payment will be continued to be paid to the Municipality of South Bruce.
The following chart provides a brief summary of the per capita analysis for both communities:
| Base Comparatives: | Ignace | South Bruce |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting Benefit | $170,000,000.00 | $418,000,000.00 |
| Population * | 1206 | 5639 |
| Area (sqm) | 71 | 188 |
| Housing units | 644 | 2381 |
| Benefit per capita | $145,000.00 | $74,000.00; |
| Corrected benefit | $150,000.00 ** | $56,000.00 *** |
*Population based on 2016 census for Ignace and 2016 census for South Bruce
**Corrected benefit for Ignace is the potential of a ten million payment available in the agreement and the 500k for willingness potential added to the hosting benefit for Ignace
***Corrected benefit for South Bruce is the 25% direct taxation subtracted from the hosting benefit which runs until year 138.
“Regardless, of our analysis, when we began negotiations with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, we were advised that each and every potential hosting agreement would be negotiated in good faith, with the community’s best interest as a guiding principle and as such would all be different based on the fact that all four of the communities/areas remaining in this process have very unique circumstances, and as the first community to have set the bar, we remain proud of the potential hosting agreement for the benefit of all in Ignace”, stated Mayor Baigrie.
“It is important to remember that each community we are negotiating an agreement with for the potential siting of the deep geological repository, has extremely unique circumstances and variable factors including population, housing needs and whether the potential site is within municipal boundaries or not. These are all factors that we needed to consider moving forward in that community’s proposed draft agreement”, stated Lise Morton, Vice President of Site Selection, NWMO.
Mayor and Council for the Township of Ignace would like to remind its residents that If you have not already registered and voiced your vote With Chela Inc., please do so until midnight tonight.