Elizabethtown-Kitley council isn’t quite ready to get on board with ALTO’s confidentiality agreement, and for now, the township isn’t signing it.
Council decided Aug. 10 to send the proposed confidential information-sharing agreement to the township’s solicitor rather than give staff the go-ahead to enter into it.
What followed was a wide-ranging discussion about what ALTO wants to know, what the township might learn in return and, perhaps most importantly, what council and staff could still tell the public if they signed.
CAO Rob Nolan said ALTO is working to narrow its proposed high-speed rail corridor through Eastern Ontario and wants to talk to municipal staff along a potential route about technical issues that could affect where that route ultimately lands.
That could include information about municipal planning matters, roads, infrastructure or emergency services that ALTO may not otherwise know about before settling on a route.
Several councillors questioned why those discussions need to be confidential at all.
Coun. Eleanor Renaud was unequivocal.
“I would not sign any kind of NDA,” she said.
Renaud questioned why information about a federally backed project involving public money should be kept from residents and argued that technical questions about how a potential route could affect the township could be discussed publicly.
Coun. Dan Downey wasn’t sold on confidential discussions either.
“I personally always think that it’s better to spread the bad news, not behind closed doors, but in the open,” he said.
Downey said council could eventually find itself answering to residents for decisions influenced by conversations residents knew little or nothing about.
Mayor Brant Burrow took a different tack.
He reminded council that deciding to enter into a confidentiality agreement is not the same as supporting high-speed rail.
“We’re not debating the ALTO project,” Burrow said. “We’re debating whether or not to enter into a confidentiality agreement with them.”
Elizabethtown-Kitley has already formally opposed ALTO’s high-speed rail project in its current form.
Burrow explained that ALTO wants municipal staff involved while the route is still being refined so local issues can be identified before a final route is chosen.
But he wasn’t sold on the agreement ALTO put in front of council either.
“I don’t like the one-sided nature of the template the way it’s being provided,” Burrow said.
Coun. Christina Eady pointed to another problem.
Saying no to the confidentiality agreement doesn’t mean ALTO suddenly has to conduct those conversations in public. It could just mean Elizabethtown-Kitley doesn’t get to hear them.
“We’re just not going to know what’s going on,” Eady said. “And I think that puts us in a really bad and weak position.”
Nolan confirmed ALTO is going to keep planning its Eastern Ontario route with or without Elizabethtown-Kitley at the table.
That leaves the township with an uncomfortable choice: enter into an agreement that could restrict what information can be discussed publicly, or refuse it and potentially know less about a project that could come through the municipality anyway.
There were practical questions, too.
If planning staff receive confidential information, can they share it with the CAO? Can the CAO take it to council? And how does council represent residents if councillors can’t talk about information that could affect them?
Those were among the reasons Burrow wanted legal advice before council made the call.
Coun. Henry Oosterhof also saw value in getting the lawyer involved. He wanted the solicitor to lay out the pros and cons, potential consequences and what the township might be giving up by entering into, or refusing, the agreement.
The proposed agreement casts a fairly wide net around what ALTO considers confidential, including technical, financial and business information, as well as studies, analyses and material created from that information. It could remain in effect for up to five years.
Staff’s original recommendation was for council to enter into the agreement, but council didn’t go there.
Instead, it amended the motion and sent the agreement to its solicitor for a closer look.
Downey and Coun. Earl Brayton opposed both the amendment to seek legal advice and the amended motion sending the agreement to the solicitor. They wanted no part of the NDA from the start.
The legal opinion is expected back at council’s next meeting in early September for a final decision.
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it would be nice to know what information will be available if the agreement isn’t signed
As a resident of Elizabethtown – Kitley I am very concerned with Alto’s NDA. I do not want a high speed rail in my back yard, nor do I want it through the neighbouring farmers property. Very concerned that if the NDA gets signed I will have no idea what is happing in my community about Alto, I was under the understanding that you all work for us the people of Elizabethtown – Kitley !!!