Competition is starting to heat up as Bruce Power looks for a new location for its proposed Ontario Nuclear Innovation Institute.
South Bruce Peninsula council used its final action of the term to vote unanimously to prepare a formal request to have Wiarton considered as the host of the innovation institute.
Mayor Janice Jackson said there's no better location for the institute than Wiarton.
"We're poised right in between two First Nations communities, we've got gorgeous recreational facilities for our students and the faculty, we've got really everything," said Jackson. "And to be able to provide that kind of a future for our youth is just incredible."
As for a physical location, Jackson says there's plenty of options, including next to Peninsula Shores District School, or potentially highway frontage.
"There's lots of land around the school, Peninsula Shores, and that way if they choose that location, they could spread out and it could become quite a campus, actually they could grow and expand quite significantly," said Jackson. "There's lots of land available on Highway 6 if they want to have highway presence."
Jackson says she has had a preliminary discussion with institute leadership, but they plan to have a full proposal prepared and presented as early as next week, adding she expects most other communities in the region to prepare their own proposals.
Bruce Power had originally planned to build the Ontario Nuclear Innovation Institute adjacent to the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton, but shelved those plans recently following community backlash over concerns about the location.