A Number Ontario Liberal MPPs May Not Be Smart, But Are Either Brave or Stupid
Yesterday over a hundred members of Wind Concerns Ontario rallied at the Legislature to call on the government to pass MPP Murdoch’s motion seeking a proper health study into the impacts of industrial wind turbine development on the health of residents. This is pretty simple stuff, something case law and Supreme Court hearings, and virtually all regulations except the Green Energy Act would recognize as being a reasonable step.
But because the Wind Industry has taken the ‘big lie’ approach to their product, they’ve decided to risk the whole lot in a legal and or political battle they frankly can’t win. They’ve asked Wind Concerns Ontario to seek to throw their baby out with their toxic bath water, instead of adopting international standards designed to protect human health and the environment. The Wind Industry’s reaction to fierce opposition was to cry to government they’ve been bribing with donations that are subsidized with our money, to strip citizens democratic rights so folks couldn’t get in the way of their projects.
It’s all failed horribly. Even they get it has. I’m sure George Smitherman and Dalton McGuinty got that memo too. Research is being done, moratoriums are going in place in other jurisdictions. As an example the Maine Medical Association is calling for a health study. Michigan has initiated a study and countless European countries have designed to recognize that these industrial machines are noise emitting and noise impacts health and therefore setbacks of 1.5km to 2km would protect folks. So you have folks doing research, and folks taking the precautionary approach and then you have Ontario’s bribed Liberal government not caring and taking the lies from folks who stand to make billions selling these projects into the grid on their word.
Residents have said repeatedly we’re not going away. The Ontario Liberal Party has begun facing protests, and those will continue. Candidates shouldn’t be shocked if local groups actively oppose their re-election or replacement with another Liberal candidate. All the wind money in the world won’t save you from a motivated, organized on the ground opposition.
The following Liberal MPPs inspired the title, because they’ve put themselves in a position where a fair comment is now ‘they voted to not protect your health because the Ontario Liberal Party stripped your rights to complain’
Arthurs, Wayne
Berardinetti, Lorenzo
Brown, Michael A.
Sandals, Liz
Van Bommel, Maria
Wilkinson, John
Each of these individuals were doing ‘house duty’ when the vote happened, all have active projects and opposition in their ridings and none stood up for their communities. There are other Liberal MPPs who couldn’t even bother to attend the debate. You may recall Margarett Best refusing to vote on the Green Energy Act – essentially ducking. She did the same today, even with voters from Scarborough Guildwood in the gallery hoping she would redeem herself a bit.
I am proud of everyone who came to Queen’s Park from our 39 groups in 26 counties. It was a weekday in the middle of the day, so many had to take time off work to be there and send the message we did. It’s the dedication of Wind Concerns Ontario that makes us such a strong force in Ontario, and as the days and weeks roll out ahead, we will continue strengthening our opposition and our attacks on the government’s position – until our voices are heard, a court puts them in their place or we defeat local MPPs who demonstrate they aren’t up to the job, simply by not doing it.
Tags: Dalton McGuinty, George Smitherman, Green Energy Act, John Wilkinson, Liz Sandals, Lorenzo Berardinetti, Maria Van Bommel, Mike Brown, Ontario Liberal Party, Queen's Park Wind Turbines, Wayne Arthurs, Wind Concerns Ontario, Wind Concerns Ontario Rally
October 30th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
If you have evidence of bribes being paid then bring it to the OPP. If not then dial back your rhetoric. You risk sounding a bit wild-eyed.
October 30th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Hmmm………..”mystery man”…….if it looks like a duck and smells like a duck.it’s a duck my friend……all it will take is one, just one disgruntled employee around Smitherman or McGuinty to drop the bombshell that will not only show “bribery” but also major “theft” of tax payers dollars and “collusion” with Industry that surrounds this whole WIND SCAM! Right now “Misappropriation of Funds” could be pursued but nothing short of criminal charges on these guys would be justice!
October 30th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Bribes are the buying of influence no? So what is it when a particular industry donates tens of thousands of dollars annually to a party they then heavily lobby?
How abut when those same companies win massive multi million dollar contracts from that same party they are heavily donating to and lobbying?
You can call it a kick back if that makes you feel better.
How about when one of the industry lobbyists and the driving force behind the green energy act alliance receives 75 000 bucks from the provincial government through the Trillium Foundation and then fights to have citizens rights stripped?
As for telling the OPP – That was the police force that threatened me with arrest for speaking out against the Premier at an Ontario Liberal Party event being catered by a wind farm developer. They had no legal basis for their threat and I was able to force them to back off by not standing down. You will appreciate I dont exactly see Dalton’s goon squad as the defenders of my rights.
Google will tell you all of these things and the fact that no one as tried to sue me for libel tells you that they recognize they would be on the hook for al costs when it was proven.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:06 am
To Carl: when will that whistleblower come forward. Have him/her contact Canadians for Accountability, a whistleblowers’s advocacy group.
To John: It is not a matter of what I want to call it. The way you use the term “bribe” means that there is no political party that is not being bribed, including Cons. I am only saying that sometimes rhetoric can denigrate your message.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:50 am
Mystery Man – Are you then accepting that taking money from the government, donating back to their party and then lobbying them heavily is therefore appropriate and not worthy of the label ‘bribe’?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:00 am
In the past few years I have donated to multiple political parties. Recently I have begun to lobby one of those parties, which is in power, on behalf of one of my client’s, for changes to the criminal code. Have I bribed the government? If you can tie the donation to some favour provided then you can prove that the donation was a bribe. In which case an Alberta MP/Minister is in trouble, as am I.
Do you donate to parties? Do you ask for change?
Finally do not label things as bribes that are inappropriate. The labels have different weights under the law.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:07 am
Is it is a concerted effort to donate to the party? Have you and your friends (all of whom receiving funding from the government through contracts they’ve been awarded by the government) all turned around and donated the legal maximum all many different opportunities, including over $20 000 alone using the by-election loophole in the Ontario Elections Act?
You’re not acting with dozens of others, you’re not all members of an industry association that is agressively seeking serious financial support from the government while denying citizens their democratic rights to be involved – let alone protest within the process.
The wind industry is doing all of the above.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:10 am
I would also clarify, I’ve never made a donation to a party that I have lobbied. As a Liberal Riding President I did belong to the monthly withdrawl program but that money stayed in the riding association I was President of.
The only other monetary relationship I have ever had with any political party (either the Ontario Liberal Party or the Liberal Party of Canada, were fees to attend specific events – not fundraisers, events like AGMs, policy conferences etc.
I have never lobbied a party I have donated too or attempted to trade on an existing relationship to get anything for anyone.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Anyone who is interested in pursuing where the money goes should start at the Trillium Foundation website and type in their search engine “Wind”. Count the number of NGO’s that represent the Wind Lobby and see how much money has been granted to them. Of course we all know that our Scratch and Win tickets and Lotto tickets finances OLG who in turn uses Trillium as their dispersement agency.
Here is a question. OLG funds are supposed to be used to “help” communities with their infrastructure projects and their health concerns that aren’t being addressed by the large Ontario Ministries. Why then would Ontarians approve huge amounts of money from their hard earned donations to go to “Industrial NGO’s” such as the Green Energy Act Alliance and others to promote industrial wind installations that should be able to support their own capital expenditures?
Phrase it any way you want, place “soft and fluffy” words into each grant but when you boil it down to it’s essence we would call these grants “Bribes”!
October 31st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
One more thing…I’ve got the guts to use my real name and not stand behind a “mysterious” anonymous label!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I looked at that site and when I typed “wind” into the search I got only one “non-wind” hit. So I took some time to scour the 2009-2010 awards and found the following entries (oops) entry with the word “wind”:
Orangeville and Dufferin Wind Corporation
$75,000 over one year to erect a meteorological tower to provide a scientific measure of the wind energy in the immediate area.
How do I know that Carl Bromwich is your real name?
My identity is not a concern. Argue the facts.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Have any of you even thought about submitting a Trillium request for a health study on wind? Or is the Trillium Foundation just a pawn of government?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Mystery man – The Trillium Foundation is made up of folks apointed by the Premier through the Public Appointments Secretariat. The head of thy is a hack – and having worked for an MPP I can assure you ‘political checks’ are done on appointees to agencies, boards and commissions.
Why would Wind Concerns Ontario or me undertake a study the government won’t accept? It’s kind of like how we don’t accept the utter bull shit the industry comes up with?
What is wrong with an expert driven, independent third party health study?
November 1st, 2009 at 11:01 am
And who selects the independent expert?
If the government selects him/her, critics like you will not accept the study no matter how good unless the study affirms your point of view.
Who would pay for the study? You or the government.
You do not seem to understand that I support your view. I just think that to always resort to ad hominem attacks (such as calling the head of the TF a hack)is counterproductive.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:25 am
The government should pay for the study, WCO, CanWEA and the government should set the terms of reference together and agree on someone distinguished without a public record of support or opposition to the technology.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
At a green energy meeting in Simcoe, the head of an Ontario farm organization confided in me that the largest donor to Ontario political parties is the wind industry. Anecdotal yes, but I’m sure he knew and is a man of integrity, a word seldom heard.
Yesterday at the committee meeting reviewing the new Ontario cap and trade bill, I addressed the windmill safety issue and the matter of the global warming agenda. Peter Tabuns of the NDP and the Liberals refused to ask me any questions.
I hit a brick wall. The Global Warming agenda is the main political agenda of our time. It’s the driver of this whole windmill matter.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Hey Mystery Man,
Clearly John is trying to see if CFRB 1010 needs a new radio host. I don’t see why, since Bill Carroll more than makes up for the rhetoric you’re so afraid that’s permeating our public discourse.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Hey folks:
I don’t always agree with John, but I have found that I have been able to find my own facts to substantiate what John says, so in my mind he is quite a credible source. He does have a tendency to try and get under the skin of his targets and to me that is a good thing. If people have chosen to be in the spot light, then they are fair game to make them a little uncomfortable and be accountable for their own actions and statements. If we don’t like what they are doing, then we will make them very accountable when the time comes. In the meantime John, keep up the barrage.