Council Meeting — September 15, 2026

In brief

This was the last meeting of the 2022-2026 Council. Council supported a 20-year Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) licence for Cameco’s Port Hope Conversion Facility, but will ask for an interim 10-year “check-in” when it appears at the November hearing. After a delegation pointed out that the Municipality’s 2026 briefing materials for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference asked the province to consider the Port Hope-Wesleyville corridor as a “pilot special economic zone community”, Council voted to write to the Minister rescinding that language. Council also put a draft 2027 fee schedule out for public comment with all open-air burn permit fees set to $0, and passed a new fireworks by-law. Several larger items were left for the new council.

Decisions

Cameco licence (11.4). Council supports Cameco’s request for a 20-year licence, the longest term on offer, and authorized staff to seek intervenor status at the CNSC hearing, which lets the Municipality make a formal submission, with a request for interim 10-year reporting on the licence terms (Res. 189-2026). Cameco’s current licence expires in February 2027.

Special economic zones (7.3). Council voted to write to the Minister of Economic Development and Job Creation clarifying its opposition to special economic zones and withdrawing that wording from the May 2026 AMO materials (Res. 181-2026). Staff said they missed Council’s earlier position when drafting the materials.

Background: Ontario’s Bill 5, the Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, lets the province designate “special economic zones” where provincial and municipal rules, including local planning approvals, can be set aside for chosen projects. On June 17, 2025, Port Hope Council passed Resolution 132-2025 opposing the parts of Bill 5 that override municipal planning authority, including special economic zones. That meeting is before this site’s January 2026 starting point, so it has no page here.

Delegation approvals (12.12). As part of the consent agenda (routine items approved together in one vote), Council asked the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the Municipality’s most senior staff member, to bring a policy by the end of June 2027 requiring Council approval before formal delegations to other governments and organizations (Res. 192-2026).

Open-air burning (11.1). A new Open-Air Burning By-law takes effect January 1, 2027 and replaces By-law 79-2023 (Res. 186-2026). Breaking it can bring an administrative monetary penalty (AMP), a fine issued by the Municipality without going to court.

Fireworks (15.7, 15.8). Council passed the Fireworks By-law (62-2026) and its penalties (63-2026) along with seven other by-laws (Res. 199-2026). From January 1, 2027, residents may set off consumer fireworks only on Victoria Day and Canada Day.

Also approved: the Tourism Strategy 2026-2031 (Res. 195-2026), the Longyear Lane rezoning, and up to $20,000 from the Library Reserve for program room upgrades (both in Res. 192-2026).

Money matters

• Burn permit fees. The draft 2027 fee schedule proposed $20 for a recreational burn permit and $80 a year for brush and land clearing. Council amended it to $0 for all open-air burn permits before public comment (Res. 187-2026). Staff said all of about 12 comparable nearby municipalities charge for burn permits, at $60 to $70 on average. A by-law setting the final 2027 fees comes to the new council.
• Library Reserve. Up to $20,000 for program room upgrades (Report FIT-17-26).
• Wesleyville readiness. The CAO cited $5.5 million in growth readiness funding from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Minister of Energy and said more may be needed.
• Cameco taxes. Asked about Cameco’s property tax contribution, the CAO estimated it as “in the million dollar range or under”.

Discussion worth knowing

The burn permit fee debate. Councillors Attridge, Toms and Holloway Wadhwani supported a $0 fee to remove a deterrent and collect better data. Councillor Andrews opposed and Councillor Mink argued fees help fund fire prevention. The Deputy Mayor favoured $0 for recreational permits only. The video suggests some opposition when the vote was taken, but it was not a recorded vote and the minutes show it as carried.

The AMO delegation materials. At the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, municipalities meet provincial ministers in short “delegations” and leave briefing materials. The CAO said staff drafted Port Hope’s materials from May 11, submitted them by the province’s deadline and shared them with Council on July 7, and that special economic zones were not raised in the meetings at the conference. The Mayor said she was not involved in drafting them. Three residents spoke on the issue in the public comment period.

Cameco’s delegation. Cameco operates the uranium conversion facility on Port Hope’s waterfront, which needs a licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the federal nuclear regulator. Cameco cited about 485 conversion employees, no regulatory limit exceedances in the licence period, and a 2026 survey in which 92% of 300 residents supported a 20-year licence. Councillor Mink asked why rural residents were screened out of the survey by postal code, and the Mayor asked about its sample and demographics. Cameco undertook to follow up.

Wesleyville impact assessment. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is proposing a new nuclear generating station at its Wesleyville site in Port Hope, and the project is going through a federal impact assessment. The Municipality’s planning consultants said the federal guidelines were released July 10, 2026 and no decision comes until stage 4, about two years away. They cited an expected 10,000 to 12,000 construction workers. OPG’s growth numbers are expected within about two months.

Coming up

• Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing, November 2026: the Municipality seeks intervenor status on the Cameco licence.
• 2027 fees: the draft schedule is posted for public comment, then a fee by-law goes to the new council to take effect January 1, 2027.
• For the new council: a report on an independent expert and legal panel for the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), the federal program cleaning up historic low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope (Res. 184-2026), a Council-staff workshop on advisory committees, a Rural Advisory Committee and a report on an Agricultural Advisory Committee, and Dr. Zachary Spicer’s governance review recommendations on how Council is organized, including the roles of the Deputy Mayor and portfolio chairs.
• Q2 2027: policy on Council approval of formal delegations.

About this summary

Numbers in brackets are agenda item numbers. “Res. 189-2026” means Council resolution 189 of 2026, and codes such as FIT-17-26 are staff report numbers (the letters identify the department that wrote it).

Drawn from the agenda, the posted minutes and the meeting recording (about 3 hours 53 minutes; the closed session was not recorded). Where the recording and the minutes disagree about who moved a motion, this page follows the minutes. The transcript and minutes differ on the movers of Res. 181-2026 and 192-2026, and staff’s burn permit breakdown (391 recreational plus 187 bush clearing) does not add up to the 571 total they gave.