John Filion responds

I feel the councilor's response was fair and realistic. It is probably best dealt with at a provincial level. As well, a Ford administration is probably not friendly to any new fees, unless they emerge from his office.

Under the current administration at City Hall, the concept of any type of additional fee would not be positively considered, even if we had the authority to levy one - something I'm not sure of. The Mayor is talking out loud about eliminating the plastic bag fee despite the fact the plastic bag usage is down by approximately 2/3.


Each year I lead a group of residents in a community clean up. Of course, litter quickly reappears, but it is at least a gesture in the right direction. The best solution that I have, although I don't have the office capacity to take it on right now is to introduce a local voluntary system through which local merchants sign on to make arrangements to clean up the mess in front of their businesses or litter that gets distributed throughout the neighbourhood from their businesses such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Part of the payback would be that these businesses would be recognized in some way so that residents such as yourself would be more likely to frequent them.


I will be meeting with representatives of all of the condos and home owners group at sometime in the near future and will run this notion by them to determine their interest.