DurhamCLEAR.ca and our other website DontGetBurned.org will be participating in a protest campaign against the Harper Conservative government on Monday, June 4.

Our websites will be black on that day in support of numerous national and local environmental sites such as Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, the Sierra Club of Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Nature Canada and the Pembina Institute.

The protest is over the unprecedented deconstruction of Canada's environmental laws by the Harper government. Much of this deconstruction was buried in the recent budget bill - Bill C-38, for which debate was then limited to a few days.

Great weather and a new setup all contributed to a successful day at Maplefest in Downtown Bowmanville. Pam had obtained some seedling white sprue trees which were given to people who contributed more than $5. This went over very well and we took in more than $350.

We still have some trees left and if you would like a few give Doug a call at 905-668-5040. These are healthy rooted seedlings from a tree farm in Pontypool. The root and a bit of soil are enclosed in small plastic bag. We need to find homes for these soon before thay deteriorate.

Our new tent canopy also contributed to the overall professional presentation. Although it was not an issue this weekend, it also provided some shelter from wind and sun.

Hundreds of flyers were handed out and many, many people were encouraging us to keep up the fight.

DurhamCLEAR is doing its part to clean up the litter that has accumulated in the ditches and along the roadways during the winter months

Saturday, April 28, 9am - meet at Courtice Community Complex

plan for about two hours

please invite/bring family members and friends

if you have a set of long 'pincers', they are helpful to pick up the garbage

In an effort to improve its public relations after a very public debacle when it it backed away from its oft repeated commitment to hire local and hire union, Covanta held a 'job fair' at the Courtice Community Centre on the morning of April 17.

The trouble was there weren't any jobs. The event was actually for suppliers only.

People who showed up looking for jobs were just turned away.

The federal government may not want your pennies but we do.

Bring them to our booth at Maple Fest (May 5th, Downtown Bowmanville) or bring them to our dinner dance fundraiser on May 26.

We are working on other drop-off or pickup arrangements. These will be broadcast in our newsletter and here on this site.

 DOWNLOAD a pdf FLYER here of the above information.
It is a 2-sided flyer printable in black and white on standard letter size paper.

The hearing for Leave to Appeal the Security of Costs decision has been set for July 17 in Oshawa.

In his decision on Dec.  15 (see earlier story below) Justice Lauwers had ruled that DurhamCLEAR had to post a $40,000 security of costs bond towards Covanta's legal bills in order to proceed. This presented an insurmountable barrier.

However, Lauwers also ruled that DurhamCLEAR qualifies as a public interest litigant, and the courts are meant to be accessible to all qualified litigants.

The 1st stage in the triple majority required to make the public election of the Regional Chair a reality occurs:

Public Meeting
Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 10:00 am,
Durham Region Headquarters, Council Chambers. 

This meeting is to hear the public's voice on the direct election of the Regional Chair. 

You do not need to register in order to speak.  This is an open, public meeting.  A strong showing is needed. 

Once the public has finished, the Regional Council will vote on the proposed by-law. 

Please come out and show your support for this important democratic step.  Share this on your facebook page.

Assuming the motion passes (a simple majority is required), a similar motion will be presented to each of the local council. If 4 of those council ( a majority) pass the motion and the population of those 4 municipalities is a majority of the Region then the province will amend the election procedure in time for the 2014 municipal elections.

Go to accountabilitystartsatthetop.com for lots of additional information including the results of the referenda which were held across the Region in the last election.

From previous stories, emails and announcements, you would have been expecting an announcement Feb. 8 re the further court date on the 'Leave to Appeal' the security of costs ruling from our Nov. 30 court appearance.

We're still waiting. That's the short answer.

The longer answer is more convoluted.

The lawyers on both sides had been told to appear in Newmarket Court on Feb 8 to get a date - which they did.

The judge (or somebody) tells them 'you don't belong here - the Oshawa court sets the dates'; so off to Oshawa. The Oshawa court says 'sure, you can have a 2 1/2 hr block on a couple of specific days in July.

But the lawyer for Covanta (Parla) says she needs 3 hr for her case which would have meant going on a rolling schedule where they can call you anytime during a week with only an hours notice. Our lawyer declined that on the grounds that he would have to clear his entire caseload for a week and 2 1/2 hrs is fine with him.

So we have no date yet but we're working on it. We will post the date as soon as we know.

UPDATE: The next bottle drive will be held on Saturday, May 26 (the Saturday after the Victoria Day long weekend). Note that this is the same day as our "Keep it Clean" Dinner/Dance. You can either drop your empties off at the locations below, or bring them with you to the dinner. There will be a couple of vans?trucks near the door to take them.

Save all your wine/liquor/beer bottles and beer cans and drop them off at one of the locations below. They are all the same except for an additional one in Courtice.

We are also collecting 1-litre & 1 quart glass food jars (wide mouth - sauces, pickles, etc.). These have been requested by a local catererwho has offered to buy them at a good price. So check your basement shelves.

Saturday, May 26, 10 am-4 pm