Scarborough Mirror: Wind turbine protesters stake out Liberal barbecue
Below is an article from the Scarborough Mirror about the protest of Dalton McGuinty’s visit to Scarborough.
Wind turbine protesters stake out Liberal barbecue
By: Eric Heino
August 13, 2009
They had been waiting for him for months.
Upset Guildwood residents, along with sympathetic protesters across Ontario, gathered outside the Miller Lash House at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus on Tuesday, Aug. 11, eager to vent their discontent to Premier Dalton McGuinty over a proposed wind farm.
There was a great deal of resentment for McGuinty’s Green Energy Act, which protesters viewed as removing their rights to have input into projects planned in their neighbourhoods – specifically, the possibility that 60 wind turbines could be erected off the shore of the Bluffs.
Residents began expressing their opposition a year ago to a decision by Toronto Hydro to place an anemometer in Lake Ontario to test the viability of a wind farm. The testing would take about two years and if it proves successful the wind farm could go ahead.
Many of the approximately 40 people at this week’s protest said they felt insulted by McGuinty’s February speech in which he referenced Bluffs residents and vowed not to let NIMBYism stand in the way of renewable energy projects.
In Scarborough for the first time since making the comments, McGuinty was scheduled to attend a private barbecue for Liberal MPPs at 6 p.m., but angry Bluffs residents had already congregated an hour beforehand.
“We are here to send a warning. The premier is here to get his members revved up for the 2011 election and we’re here to tell him that we’re revved up too,” said John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of grassroots organizations from across the province.
Shortly before the political gathering was to begin, however, Ontario Provincial Police officers arrived and asked all protesters to leave the university property or risk being arrested.
As a result, the group headed to Old Kingston Road. After speaking with OPP officers, Laforet called on the Toronto Police officers stationed at the university hoping they would defend the protest. But the protesters were told to move off the site while the university administration assessed the safety of the situation.
On Old Kingston Road, the protesters continued to wave banners and chant “Protect the environment, no turbines in the lake” as passing motorists honked their horns.
At 6 p.m. the police officers once again approached Laforet and took him aside.
“The fact of the matter is that this is a private event and where that extended to is the issue of debate here,” said one of the officers. “That has been resolved and you are welcome back on the site, but the actual facility that they are using is out of bounds.”
With Laforet and others at the main entrance, half of the group walked back to the property. Nobody had yet seen McGuinty, but when Scarborough Southwest MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti arrived at the barbecue he stopped to speak.
“You need to stand up for Scarborough! We need your voice,” shouted one angry protester.
“I’m going to pass these concerns along to the premier and we’ll see what he says,” said Berardinetti in response.
Rapid-fire questions were shot back, shouting over Berardinetti’s voice.
Berardinetti brushed off a party official trying to bring him inside, responding, “This is more important.”
Berardinetti, before he left to join his party members, assured the protestors he would speak with the premier. He was handed an envelope containing information prepared by the protesters and Berardinetti confirmed the next day he’d personally delivered it to McGuinty.
Laforet returned to the Miller Lash House and explained that McGuinty had entered through the back of the building. By 7:10 p.m. the crowd began to dissolve. Laforet declared the evening a success and decided to call it a night.
Reached the day after the protest, Berardinetti urged patience.
“Residents do come first and I’m their voice at Queen’s Park,” he said. “Their concerns become my concerns, but remember that I don’t always get my way, either. I can be just as angry as those protesters, but that doesn’t mean that the cabinet ministers or the premier will agree with me.”
Tags: Dalton McGuinty, Dalton McGuinty BBQ, Dalton McGuinty Protest, Dalton McGuinty Scarborough, Miller Lash House
August 21st, 2009 at 6:51 am
I think noisy is an important problem for the wind turbine. So the wind farm need be far away the house and village. Another choice is to used the vetical wind turbines.