Community Poll
Kincardine Council determined that they would seek formal endorsement of the hosting agreement from Kincardine residents through a community poll. Leading up to the poll, a community education/information plan was put in place to provide all residents an opportunity to obtain information about the DGR concept and the hosting agreement. During this stage of the process public consultation and communications efforts focused primarily on the residents of the Municipality of Kincardine.
The Municipality of Kincardine and OPG jointly operated a Community Consultation Centre located on the main street of Kincardine from October 2004 to the end of the telephone poll. Leading up to the telephone poll, the Municipality of Kincardine and OPG also made presentations on the Deep Geologic Repository Proposal, on a request basis, to community groups.
An independent company conducted the telephone poll in January and February 2005. Diligent efforts were made to contact each household, and each eligible resident, either by telephone or by mail if no telephone contact could be made. Seasonal residents were mailed a copy of the question and asked to respond by mail.
Of the 5257 eligible households indicated in the 2001 Statistics Canada Census, 3763 participated in the poll. This represented 6778 individual votes. The results of the vote were:
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Yes
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60%
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No
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22%
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Neutral
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13%
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Don't know/Refused
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5%
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Kincardine Council accepted the poll results as an indication of sufficient support to move forward with the Hosting Agreement for the DGR.
With community support OPG began work on a Project Description document outlining its plans for developing a Deep Geologic Repository on the Bruce site in the Municipality of Kincardine. OPG submitted its Project Description to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in December 2005, which signaled the start of the environmental assessment process for the DGR project.
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