Conflicting reactions within council on new potential CTS location in downtown Cambridge

With the opioid crisis at an all time high, majority of city council's members believe that 150 Main Street in downtown Cambridge would be a good place to help anyone struggling with addiction.

Jan Liggett, however, could not disagree more. The ward 4 councillor walked out of last week's meeting in anger before the voting even began.

Liggett said, “my vote didn't count to begin with. It wouldn't have mattered how I voted. It was very obvious and very clear that the intent was to shut down any opposition and people realize I was totally left out of everything. “

Councillor Liggett doesn't believe that CTS sites belong in the downtown area of any city. While she does understand that addiction is a legitimate concern, she thinks that an industrial area would be better suited for these establishments.  

“They need the public's support to continue to come downtown and right now the public is fearful,” said Liggett. ” There's a school right there, a senior's facility, and three parks near by. There is just so much that is wrong about this location.”

Liggett is not the only one who is not in favour of this new location. The Business Improvement Association (BIA)  issued a statement saying that council acted in bad faith for not including them in this decision. The statement also added that the BIA would like to be apart of the conversations moving forward with the establishment of this site in the core area of Galt.

“They had not been consulted and they should have been. The relationship between council, its people and the BIA is a mutual symbiotic relationship. The trust involved in keeping that relationship even keeled has been broken.”

Councillor Liggett noted that the project may not happen. Approval is still needed from the region and the province before plans can move forward.