{"id":843020,"date":"2026-08-02T19:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843020\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T19:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:59:08","slug":"letter-town-hall-should-be-held-on-proposed-data-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843020\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTER: Town hall should be held on proposed data centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘If there really are no big concerns and if there really will be 1,000 jobs, show us,’ a candidate for the upcoming municipal election writes<\/p>\n

SooToday received the following letter from Ward 5 city council candidate Martin Wyant.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2018, voter turnout was low enough that Council approved funds to develop solutions. Four years later, voter turnout actually declined.<\/p>\n

While there is no data available to help us understand why turnout dropped after we spent money and time to improve it, it\u2019s fair to assume that a lack of meaningful engagement is part of the problem.<\/p>\n

Real engagement is hard work. It\u2019s phone calls, town halls, open houses; it\u2019s answering e-mail messages and returning phone calls, even when the subject matter is difficult; it\u2019s showing that legitimate concerns are heard and addressed before a project proceeds.<\/p>\n

When people don\u2019t feel heard, many disengage. And when they are heard, but ignored, trust evaporates.<\/p>\n

The proposed AI data centre<\/a> is an example of how not to gain support for a development. Yes, we want jobs; yes, we want to increase our tax base. But not at any cost.<\/p>\n

Consultation takes time and patience. People have concerns and questions. Instead of treating us like you know what\u2019s best for us, show the courage and conviction to attend a town hall with citizens in our community, particularly those in Ward 5 who live close to the proposed development.<\/p>\n

The Mayor and all councillors who voted to approve this project without consultation should attend the meeting, along with Claudette McGowan (CEO of Protexxa) and a representative from Missanabie Cree First Nation.<\/p>\n

If there really are no big concerns and if there really will be 1,000 jobs, show us.<\/p>\n

Martin Wyant

\nSault Ste. Marie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘If there really are no big concerns and if there really will be 1,000 jobs, show us,’ a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-843020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}