Sludge Watch ==> Lindsay Ontario - councillor decries sludge use

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.mykawartha.com/article/4938

Olito not happy with how council runs
Date: 2006-10-23
Author: Deb Bartlett - My Kawartha

Asked what prompted him to run as councillor for Ward 8, Charles Olito says 
emphatically, "Amalgamation in number one and the way council is run is 
number two."
Mr. Olito says amalgamation was enforced and people were promised better 
services, lower taxes and a more efficient system. "The County reserves have 
been gobbled up and the City is in debt," he says. He disapproves of 
"big-dollar spending, high salaries and high-priced experts.
"City council is digging a debt hole."
Mr. Olito says the environment is a key plank in his platform. He is not in 
favour of sludge being spread on farmland and he is cynical of the reduce, 
reuse and recycle program and the plastics industry's role in it. "We buy 
them (plastic bags) just to put them in the dump," he says.
He's in favour of incineration and says garbage in the landfill sites is 
covered in paper sludge. He suggests we "mine the dumps" for fuel for 
incineration. "There's the fuel right there to generate steam, electricity 
and heat," says Mr. Olito.
He says the application of pesticides and fertilizer is "very, very 
questionable...we're growing corn and soy in Roundup." Mr. Olito supports a 
ban on the use of pesticides on city property and for residential use.
The municipality's infrastructure, says Mr. Olito, needs to be upgraded. He 
calls septics "a problem" and says smaller villages have no proper sewers, 
"That's what we really need."
Mr. Olito is also a supporter of a railroad and says, "we need a railroad to 
go back to what Haliburton and Kawartha Lakes used to be."
He says a railroad will help deliver cheaper goods, more tourists and lower 
costs for business. "Right now they're stuck with high truck costs," says 
Mr. Olito. And trains mean the roads will last longer, he says.
Of the doctor shortage, Mr. Olito says the blame for the shortage rests 
squarely on the shoulders of the provincial health minister. "We aren't 
going to solve the problem by stealing other doctors," he says. And the 
current system of luring new doctors is "bribery" and doesn't address the 
cause, which is too few doctor's spaces in medical schools.
Councillors should be lobbying the provincial government, he says. "They're 
kowtowing to what the minister tells them. That's not what they're there 
for. They're there to get results," says Mr. Olito.
Mr. Olito served in the Royal Air Force and was a high school teacher and 
farmer. He has coached and refereed soccer and is a member of the Royal 
Canadian Legion.
The candidate says he is "the only person who can really face the root 
problem we are facing in the City of Kawartha Lakes. When you have a hole, 
stop digging. Get out before it's too late."