The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Creighton Mayor Bruce Fidler says he has been rebuffed in efforts to meet with Premier Brad Wall to discuss nuclear waste storage in Saskatchewan. Fidler has wanted to meet with Wall since last year when the premier all but ruled out the concept for his province in comments to the media. 'I'm still looking forward to the day that he will agree and meet with me and discuss it,' Fidler told the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce last week. 'To this day, he hasn't agreed to it.' Addressing nearly 20 guests at the Friendship Centre Restaurant, Fidler said he tried to arrange a meeting with Wall, he believes most recently last fall, but was turned down. As mayor, Fidler has been the public face of Creighton's potential pursuit of an underground facility that would store Canada's spent nuclear fuel rods beginning in 2035. But at least twice last year, Wall poured cold water on any such notion. In April he told reporters that Saskatchewan residents do not want a nuclear waste repository in their province and that he would most likely not allow one to be built. Then in October Wall told News Talk 650 CKOM he does not think Saskatchewanians want radioactive waste kept in their province and that unless there is a major shift in public opinion, it is not in the cards. Fidler stressed that Creighton Town Council has not come out for or against a nuclear waste facility, but is still engaging the community in learning more about the concept. See 'Fidler...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 He would not say he personally supports the project. 'The only thing I commit to right now is learning as much as I possibly can and bringing all the information to the area, to the people of the area,' said Fidler. 'And it is going to be the people that make the decision, not me. So...when the time comes _ if the time comes _ they can make an informed decision.' Creighton has entered the third phase of the learning process with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), which will build and manage the storage facility. Educating Fidler said this phase will see NWMO staff visit Creighton and area for a few days each month, educating the public through a variety of means. Public presentations, open houses, school sessions _ even door-to-door visits _ are among the tools officials will or may utilize to inform the populace. 'They'll be out talking to all the residents, not just of Creighton, but of all the area,' said Fidler. 'We hope to bring as much information as we can on the subject for everybody.' Fidler said NWMO officials will next be in the area toward the end of this month. The NWMO has stressed that unless residents of an area are generally in favour of nuclear waste storage, their area will not be considered. Despite Wall's comments, Fidler said previously that town council has not been told to stop engaging in the NWMO process. The Saskatchewan government had no comment.
