I was proud to stand up for my supporters, for our community and for our future.

It’s important those who got involved in this campaign stay involved in fighting for the vision of Scarborough they support.

The future is bright and if residents keep the pressure on they can force results from their returning Councillor.

I’ll be taking some time to take stock of my next steps, but two things are certain – my commitment to leading Wind Concerns Ontario is unaffected by the results of this election and I will continue to answer the call of folks seeking my help.

Thank you again to those 4440 voters who felt I represent the kind of leadership they’d like to see and to everyone who donated or volunteered to make this all possible.

I will never forget the heartwarming kindness and generosity I’ve been blessed with these last months as your candidate.

Polls are open from 10-8pm. If you have a voter card take it and a piece of ID with you. A drivers licence works as well. If you don’t have a drivers licence a bill or bank statement and passport, citizenship card or something else with your picture will do.

It’s been an honour to be your candidate and with your support I look forward to being your next City Councillor.

If you need a ride to the polls, have any questions or have trouble voting please call 647 724 0600.

John Laforet voting with his grandparents at the advanced polls

Voting is open from 10am to 6pm on Saturday October 16th and Sunday October 17th at Galloway Road Public School (192 Galloway Road).

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To vote all you need to do is bring your voter card and a piece of ID. If you didn’t receive your voter card, a drivers licence or another piece of photo ID with signature (citizenship card, passport etc.) and something with proof of address like a utility bill or bank statement. For a full list of acceptable identifcation and voting requirements please visit this City of Toronto Election’s Link.

Candidates running for the Ward 43 seat seem to have a different spin when it comes to the proposed wind turbine project off the Scarborough Bluffs.

Paul Ainslie and John Laforet are against the installation of wind turbines in Lake Ontario; while Benjamin Mbaegbu, Bhaskar Sharma and Samuel Getachew support them. Mbaegbu, though, said the Scarborough Bluffs isn’t the proper location.“I am completely against them,” said Ainslie, the incumbent councillor. “I have always been completely against them from the first day they came out.”

A wind testing study is currently being done at the site. In June the Ministry of Environment announced that the province has decided on a five-kilometre setback for offshore wind farms. Since the lake bed off the Scarborough Bluffs drops off after four kilometres it likely means the proposed wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs won’t be viable.

”I would like a scientifically based health study done on the effects of wind turbines on local population, the human population, animal population,” Ainslie said.

“We don’t know the effects of putting concrete structures like this on the lake bed and how it affects fish spawning grounds. There’s also an issue of migratory birds. As a city councillor there’s a huge issue on overspending taxpayer dollars to build wind turbines on Lake Ontario. A lot of jurisdictions are looking at them as outdated technology now for saying you’re green and respecting the environment.”

Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, said he’s been fighting wind turbines for more than two years.

“It’s a billion dollars of our money on a project that will never see that return. How much debt do you want a City of Toronto agency to take on? It’s probably the worst way to generate electricity on a grand scale. Toronto Hydro is supposed to be providing our houses with reliable, affordable energy, not generating energy – that’s not their mandate.”

Mbaegbu said he supports the green use of generating electricity,

“Wind turbines are a very good project for the city, but not the location (off the Scarborough Bluffs),” he said. “It will create employment, but it’s a health hazard to the people around it.”
Sharma said he thinks the wind turbines would be good for Scarborough and the environment.

“Of course more detailed study must be done to look at its full usefulness. I know it’s a turn off for people who think it might be taking away from landscape, but I feel when we look at going back to nature and beauty and the environment it will be good for future generations and people at large,” he said.

Getachew said turbines will offer a great source of alternative energy.

“I support the wind turbines,” he said. “I’ve travelled to so many places, including Norway, Denmark, Africa, and I’ve seen what’s happening in Alberta and they do use them. We can’t depend on the same source to produce energy over and over again. I think they’re a great alternative.

“There hasn’t been any signs telling us they’re bad for the environment or someone’s health. The only thing people have is fear. We have to be conscious. There might be problems in the future, but as of now I don’t see any problems with them. I think they would be a great source of energy for us.”

Getachew said he also supports development on Kingston Road and infill developments that have popped up in the ward. “We need more developers,” he said.

“We need more business owners. We need more people creating jobs. There are issues. People have discussed them with me. I want different conversations to take place. It’s an issue that can be solved.”

Mbaegbu agreed that development in Ward 43 isn’t an issue, while Sharma said he will look into it.

However, Laforet said the infill on Kingston Road is squandering the opportunity to restore the area.

“This is the gateway to Toronto from the east. There’s a very good reason to make it so Kingston Road is something people can be proud of and make their living and folks can stay.”
Ainslie said Kingston Road has been on an upswing.

“I can point to a number of different properties throughout that strip where the strip motels, car lots and gas stations have left,” he said.

“Kingston Road’s biggest problem is the economy needs to recover and the neighbourhood needs the economy to recover.”

He added there are six or seven low-rise condominium applications that are ready to go.

“Right now the property owners are sitting on the property because they don’t think they can sell the units so they’re waiting. Once the economy improves – three or four years down the road – you’re going to walk down Kingston Road and see a world of difference. Kingston Road is really going to be someplace for people to go.”

Below is a news release regarding the success of foodpoll 2010′s challenge to all City Council candidates. I was proud to participate and wish the others running in Ward 43 had gotten involved to make it more interesting. I want to thank everyone who dropped by to donate non parishable food to the foodbank and have to say I was personally amazed by the amount of food donated.

240 Pounds of Help For Scarborough’s Food Bank Collected in Ward 43

 
SCARBOROUGH, Mon. Sept 20, 2010 – Residents of Ward 43 donated 240 pounds of soup, flour, pasta and other non-perishable food items to local food banks this past weekend as part of the city-wide Toronto Food Poll 2010. This food drive was organized as a challenge to all city councillor candidates in the upcoming October 25th municipal election.
 
The motto for this year’s Food Poll was “Politics doesn’t matter if you’re hungry…. Everyone needs to eat.” John Laforet was the only councillor candidate in Scarborough’s Ward 43 to participate in this community food drive.
 
“Helping out our neighbours is a tradition in Scarborough. I want to thank all the Ward 43 residents who dropped off groceries this weekend. I was amazed by residents’ generosity in just two days,” said Laforet.
 
He congratulated the food drive organizers for taking a creative approach to link urban poverty with the current municipal election. Laforet said food drives are important to many people in Ward 43. The ward includes some of Scarborough’s poorest neighbourhoods. He added that city officials estimate about 3,000 families in the ward’s area depend on local food banks.
 
“In addition to its low-income residents, Ward 43 continues to lack many of the city services that other parts of Toronto take for granted,” Laforet said. “We have no subway service. Some of the worst roads in Ontario are in this ward. And only one library is now operating in this whole ward.”
 
All the food collected by the John Laforet campaign in Ward 43 will be delivered to Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank, which supplies food to Scarborough’s volunteer-run food banks. About 40 councillor candidates across Toronto took part in the Food Poll. The final city-wide results of this drive will be announced by the Toronto Food Poll 2010 later this week. More information about this initiative is available at  www.foodpoll2010.com

We all know Councillors have a number of advantages when running for re-election and sadly far too many are prepared to abuse taxpayer funds to fight to keep their jobs at election time. This leads to voters essentially being forced to fund incumbents efforts to attempt to prevent meaningful opposition from challenging them.

As a city we’re lucky voters are reaching a boiling point and ready to make the changes that improper use of City funds can’t stop. It will be interesting to see how many Councillors, who ignored the City’s top lawyers legal advice to them when they voted to fund Councillor’s legal expenses, will flip their votes just before the election to try to look like their on the taxpayer’s side now. That will be the best indication of just how vulnerable they are feeling.

I know in my ward residents are ready to break with the last four years and elect a new voice that will stand up and fight for our community. It’s important residents city wide back candidates who are going to act in their best interest, defend their communities and focus on the city and its residents and not lining their own pockets.

In just three months residents will have the ballot boxes to make these decisions, and if we do our job we won’t need the courts to police the next Council as well.

Unfortunately someone, who the City will not confirm or deny was Councillor Ainslie or a member of his staff, felt the need to apply pressure to the Parks Department and have them call a resident who sent out an invitation to my meeting, telling them that it was against the law for more than twenty-five residents to meet in a park without a permit, permits were never issued for that park, and that no candidate was allowed to discuss an election in a park, wear a button or hand out materials. We asked for a copy of the by-law and asked if they were prepared to have citizens arrested – and they went silent.

They wanted us to shut down our meeting, and not have residents come together to discuss the biggest threat ever to face the community, and hear from the only candidate offering a viable solution.

I am so happy to have such strong support on Grey Abbey Trail that we were able to find a back yard, backing on to the park within a couple of hours to hold the meeting if necessary. Instead, we set up the sound equipment in the backyard, and I stayed about five feet back from the metre tall chain link fence, and spoke to residents from private property about the importance of the issue, thus I did not discuss politics in the park and I was sure to tell them why I had to stand where I was standing.

I promised residents last night that when I defeat Paul Ainslie on October 25th and become their Councillor, the political games will end, and I’ll continue my fight to ensure their rights are respected and their involvement in decision making restored.

Antoinette DiNovo – Paul Ainslie’s Executive Assistant showed up to record and take notes. Once again it appears taxpayers will be paying her to abuse our tax dollars and run his campaign. At least Antonette didn’t have any embarrassing outbursts like Councillor Ainslie did on June 14th and was kind enough to leave after being introduced and called out on her abuse of taxpayer funds to help inflict another four years of failed representation on our community, one neither of them live in. Ward 43 isn’t buying what they’re selling this time and last night’s meeting that had a crowd threefold of the meeting I held three weeks before is a strong sign of the change that’s coming.

Consider that on a night when the heat wave was on it’s forth day, there was a heat alert in place and we were holding a meeting outside, in July that nearly one hundred and fifty residents felt compelled to come out and speak about the issues near and dear to them and the opportunity we have together to reclaim our voice and restore local democracy. Consider that Paul Ainslie doesn’t have a single Ward 43 resident to send to take notes, and is instead either crashing my meetings himself or sending a member of his staff, we’re all paying to do it for him.

I am looking forward to continuing to earn residents trust and support over the coming weeks and months and know that together we can make our community and city a better place to live for all of us.

The more you examine Premier Dalton McGuinty’s “green” energy strategy, the more you come to the conclusion his government is faking it.

Making it up as it goes along, often for the sake of political expediency, complete with blatant double standards for urban versus rural Ontario.

The latest example is Ontario’s proposed minimum 5-km setback for offshore wind farms. That compares to a minimum of 550 metres and a maximum of 1.5 km away from any dwelling for land-based wind farms.

A skeptic might suggest the 5-km minimum offshore setback is intended to calm public concerns in the four urban, Liberal-held ridings, centred around Scarborough Guildwood, most directly impacted by Toronto Hydro’s proposal to build a 60-turbine wind farm in Lake Ontario off the Bluffs.

This by putting the project largely out of sight and out of mind.

In addition, Energy Minister Brad Duguid who oversees the green energy file, represents a fifth Liberal-held riding, Scarborough Centre, adjacent to Scarborough Guildwood. In that context, a comment by Duguid when the environment ministry last month proposed the 5-km minimum offshore setback, was shocking.

He told the Toronto Star: “I think it sets to rest the concerns of some moderate people, who were concerned if they go to the beach, they could be looking up at a huge wind turbine.” Huh?

A spokesman for Duguid said he was explaining opponents of the project have been citing worst case-scenarios in the absence of any setback announced by the province, and this proposal helped bring certainty to the issue.

But that doesn’t change what Duguid said. He clearly said public concerns (at least urban ones) about the aesthetics of wind turbines, specifically how they look, given that they are massive structures, are legitimate. After all, it worries even “moderate people.”

There are two problems with Duguid’s statement.

First, it flies in the face of what McGuinty has said — that the only legitimate opposition to wind farms is for environmental and safety reasons and people who object over anything else — including aesthetics — are “NIMBYS” who just don’t want the things anywhere near them for irrational reasons.

This argument has been constantly leveled at rural residents who, among many other reasons, oppose wind factories towering over their homes for aesthetic reasons and their negative impact on property values.

Funny, I don’t recall McGuinty and the Liberals ever going to war against residential neighbourhoods in Toronto, who constantly fight over the height of proposed apartment buildings for aesthetic reasons, and because of fears tall buildings will lower surrounding residential property values.

Ironically, the Liberals are supported in their selective assault on rural Ontarians by Toronto-based environmentalists and media, all from a city with one industrial wind turbine at Exhibition Place, nowhere near any homes, because wind farms aren’t practical in cities. Thus, urban self-righteousness comes easily.

The second problem with Duguid’s remark is aesthetics isn’t one of the reasons the environment ministry gives for its recommended 5-km offshore setback.

The reasons are to: (a) keep turbines clear of drinking water intakes; (b) protect sensitive ecological areas close to shore; (c) provide a sufficient buffer from noise, since it travels further over water and (d) safeguard boaters and swimmers.

Duguid and the environment ministry say Ontario’s recommended offshore setback is in line with those proposed by several U.S. states.

But objecting to wind turbines over aesthetics is legitimate or it isn’t. You can’t suggest, as the Liberals are, it’s legitimate for “moderate” urban residents, illegitimate for “NIMBY” rural ones.

Toronto Hydro is re-assessing its proposed Lake Ontario project in light of the recommended 5-km setback, which could be modified during an upcoming provincial review process.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, ironically a former Liberal and acting executive assistant to Duguid, now a municipal candidate in Toronto’s ward 43, says if the Liberals hope community opposition will end with their proposed 5-km offshore setback, they’re dreaming.

Opponents don’t believe it will stop the Toronto Hydro project, and, in any event, the community is opposed to the project, period, because of pollution, noise, safety and other concerns.

In other words, the size of the setback is irrelevant.

For those of us who got out of bed on a Sunday morning, and made our way to the Guild Inn for 5:30 am to be witness and participate it’s something we will surely never forget. As I waited for the group to arrive, I wandered around the Guild Inn park and saw two rabbits having breakfast, and was surrounded by the sounds of birds singing. There wasn’t any human generated noise to be heard.

David Grey Eagle shared an important message that day and in the video below, one about protecting nature, our drinking water and our rights – all things under siege by our government.

We must continue to stand together and stand up to protect all that we hold dear, and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The impacted wildlife that live in the Scarborough Bluffs, the birds along our lakefront and the fish within it’s waters need voices and need to be protected from the irresponsible proposal Toronto Hydro has endorsed and the Provincial Government and our local representatives appear willing to accept.

Perhaps the most significant pledge I’ve made as the only Ward 43 resident running for Toronto City Council is my firm commitment to protect the Scarborough Bluffs, and the Lake from Toronto Hydro’s proposal and work with the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority to give Guildwood residents and wildlife restored access to natural beaches and a waterfront worthy of such a special place.

Below is a video that shows some of the most important messages David Grey Eagle shared with us that day.