MacDonald questions development plans for port land

(Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

CORNWALL – As the City of Cornwall passed the bylaw to assume joint ownership with Akwesasne of the port lands, councillor Mark MacDonald was looking for answers on the future of the chemical tanks.

“The chemical tanks are what got us here,” MacDonald stated during a Monday night council meeting.

Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy said the contents of the lease will be revealed “in the very near future”.

But the mayor speculated that discussions on the chemical tanks would happen within two years.

MacDonald suggested the city would have the opportunity to make “mucho dinero” through a variety of development opportunities with the Akwesasne.

But the mayor said again what today “what we’ll have for the next two years. The next two years we will be working on it.”

Coun. Bernadette Clement said this was more about “controlling our destiny” and showing the nation that the city can work with a First Nation.