Archive for October, 2009
Between Legal Action and Resolutions in the Legislature – It’s Clear Green Energy Act Backfired
As I said when called for comment by the Canadian Press on the legal action launched by Ian Hanna, Wind Concerns Ontario supports Ian Hanna’s courageous decision to seek legal action against what is probably the most irresponsible and undemocratic piece of legislation that has been passed by this government. We’ve been warning government and industry since February that they were on the wrong track and promised we would not go away quietly.
It is a sad day on Ontario when a resident has to sue the government to have their health protected. But the successful lobbying of the wind industry has made that the reality in Ontario today.
In a meeting between the Canadian Wind Energy Association and Wind Concerns Ontario, Robert Hornung, the President of CanWEA ignored pleas from our medical experts to call for an independent third party epidemiological study into the effects of poorly sited turbines on human health. In response to his repeated and totally lame answer ‘well we’re not seeing this in other jurisdictions (other jurisdictions have real regulations and recognize the precautionary principle in planning and also didn’t seek to dismantle democracy or environmental planning)’ my response was simple ‘your problem is in Ontario’. We each repeated ourselves two or three times on this point.
I told Hornung in that meeting that they can win all the back room victories they want through lobbying because that isn’t where the ballot boxes are kept and that once we lost our procedural rights, our own options would be legal and political. When the new regulations were announced last month, it was clear we had lost our procedural rights in the interest of the wind industry’s right to our money – which we’ll all be paying when our electricity bills go up 12% by 2011 (this doesn’t include power increases or the HST, this is just the fantasy ‘smart’ grid needed to allow these stupid projects to sell power into the grid, the occasional time they produce it). I applaud the personal strength of Ian Hanna who has been brave enough to take on the government and stand up for the health of Ontarians. I am certain tens of thousands of residents across Ontario will be lining up in support of him. I know I am.
Many of us are also lining up in support of a motion to be introduced in the legislature on October 29th 2009 calling on the government to put in place a moratorium on all new industrial wind projects until proper health studies have been done. The proposal has been endorsed by the medical officer of health for Bruce Grey and is receiving support from around Ontario.
This joins a growing worldwide push in recent weeks by medical professionals to study the health impacts and end the industry backed plan of ignoring the legitimate suffering of individuals. There are over 100 people in Ontario suffering ill effects. It is no coincidence that Canadian Hydro Developers got into the real estate business in a big way, to the tune of nearly two million dollars over three years near one of their projects. It wasn’t because they liked the view – its because they were making people sick and decided two million bucks was a better voluntary solution to whatever the courts would throw at them.
I am hopeful on October 29th the legislature will pass a resolution recognizing the need to stop what we’re doing until we’ve studied the effects. I believe this position is in line with statements made by both the NDP and PC parties and hope at the very least, each of them will be voting to protect human health in rural Ontario from these carpet bagging developers that are tearing communities apart and using the law they’ve written and paid for through massive donations to the Ontario Liberal Party as justification.
5 Comments »City of Toronto Ombudsman To Hold Meeting In Scarborough
I want to start by saying having an City of Toronto Ombudsman is an incredibly important thing and something I think can be said to be a success of the current City Council.
An Ombudsman helps address systemic barriers to action within an organization. At the City of Toronto, this is an extremely important addition to an organization that is sometimes as clear as mud. One of the problems with an 8.6 billion dollar organization with thousands of employees, dozens of programs and departments and work locations is that it is easy for someone from outside that structure to get lost within it, and see their issue unresolved.
The fact that the Ombudsman is holding ‘regional’ meetings within the City to get out there so people know about the service, how to access her office and seek resolutions this way is extremely important.
I’m quite happy she will be at the Scarborough Civic Centre on Tuesday from 7 to 9PM to meet with Scarborough residents and get a sense of the situation on the ground.
All too often the experience I hear when I speak to folks who have contacted a municipal politician or sought help with a challenging aspect of service delivery from the City is one of a run around. I know from personal experience what a frustrating waste of time it can be trying to navigate contentious issues at City Hall because the mentality appears to be that it is safer for the individual on the other side of the phone, desk or computer to ‘shut down’ instead of help you to resolve whatever has brought you there.
In the absence of an army of effective Councillors to use their muscle to seek resolution on behalf of constituents an office like the office of Ombudsman is extremely important and while a very new experiment in Toronto – one I hope will be extremely successful in helping people access their government efficiently and effectively. Let’s hope she and her seven staff can make it happen.
No Comments »Video of Dwight Duncan on OLG Windsor Energy Centre Scandal
I have to say, you know it’s bad news when you have so many scandals your scandals begin to overlap to the point that the media frankly can’t adequately cover them all. This is the current state of the Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal government at Queen’s Park.
This entry is about the OLG deciding (or being decided for) to build a power plant to power the casino in Minister Duncan’s riding. Don’t ask me why, I see this as being epically stupid too. The fall out has been pretty grim, and the government is refusing to release any details to the opposition on this file (I guess they aren’t allowed to expose more than three scandals at a time). Minister Duncan has handled the situation so well the Province is being sued for $355 million by the developer/operator of the plant in addition to what the former CEO is suing for over wrongful dismissal. I don’t think there is anyone else involved in the deal who could sue that isn’t already.
Why the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission decided it was in the business of building power plants in the riding of the Minister responsible for OLG is beyond me, especially considering it was the old Minister (George Smitherman who dropped this responsibility like it was hot once the odeousness of scandal started creeping up from the basement) who was all into the building of unnecessary energy projects.
That being said – I think we now know why Minister Smitherman dropped this like he did eHealth before it when things got messy.
Anyways – I’m not going to make this too heavy. Here is a video that shows Minister Duncan working out an answer to some of this in the legislature. If you’re still confused after watching (and you’ll probably be laughing at how ridiculous or crying at how irresponsible these people are) there are links below to media stories on it.
Duncan takes heat over $81M, OLG-owned power plant in his riding – Hamilton Spectator
Opposition questions $81M price of OLG power plant – Toronto Star
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