The District of Muskoka has postponed taking fluoride out of the water again to make sure they follow the right processes.
Bracebridge resident Patrick Boyer said to a local news outlet last week that if council didn’t begin following the proper procedures he would get an injunction from the court.
“Now it’s not necessary,” he said.
Council unexpectedly voted in favour of stopping fluoridation at a council meeting on Oct. 21 with a tentative termination date of Nov. 4. Boyer said his concern as a citizen, after watching the majority of the same council vote in favour of continuing to fluoridate in 2011, is the democratic process is not being followed.
According to the Ontario Fluoridation Act, district council must pass a bylaw to discontinue fluoridation, instead of the resolution council passed. Boyer also raised the issue that water fluoridation was not addressed at the committee level before coming to council.
He said he spoke to district chair John Klinck about the urgency of the matter when it came to his attention, only four days before fluoride was scheduled to be taken out of the water. The district responded in time, he said, pushing the date out to Nov. 11 and making it unnecessary to seek court action.
Klinck said after seeking legal advice the district has pushed out the date indefinitely.
“We have postponed it until such time as district will likely give consideration to conform with the act to terminate fluoridation,” he said.
Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith said he is disappointed with the way district council handled the situation and he’s unsure why council addressed it again with no new information.
“From a standpoint of doing good business I don’t think we treated that issue like we normally would, which is put it through the committee process, get a report from committee, then address it through council,” he said. “It was something that flew onto the floor at the last minute in a heated room with delegations just being made … That technically fits into the procedures of the district, it’s not doing good business.”
District council will be addressing a bylaw on the matter at the next council meeting on Monday, Nov. 18.
Boyer is planning to speak to council about the issue then.
“I will be addressing district council then … on the democratic process that’s being followed,” he said. “I’m not going to say publicly fluoridation is a good thing, I think science shows that. My point is not pro or con the issue.”
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