Video: John Laforet’s Address to the Empire Club of Canada – Wind Generated Controversy
John Laforet at the Empire Club of Canada
John Spears of the Toronto Star covered the speech and wrote : Wind Foe Vows to Defeat Liberals
2 Comments »Thunder Bay Rally a Success!
As the Wind Concerns Ontario Truth about Turbines Tour kicked off in Thunder Bay last night, I began blogging at wcotour.ca It’s a site where myself and others will share their stories, photos, videos and audio from the province wide tour Wind Concerns Ontario is undertaking over the next six weeks. I encourage you to check out http://wcotour.ca regularly to see and hear what real Ontarians feel about industrial wind development in the lead up to the fall election.
Below is last night’s entry.
Residents against the proposed Horizon Wind Inc. wind farm have a message for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and the city’s two MPPs – no Liberals, no turbines.
More than 200 residents attended the Wind Concerns Ontario rally at the Nor’Wester Hotel Monday night. The rally was a chance to give residents more information on the Horizon Wind development of a wind farm on top of the Nor’ Wester mountains.” From May 16th 2011 – Thunder Bay Newswatch - ‘Ready to Fight’ (A description of last night’s meeting in Thunder Bay)
What a great night in Thunder Bay! We couldn’t have had a better launch to Wind Concerns Ontario’s ‘Truth about Turbines’ than we had last night in Thunder Bay. I was amazed and the number of people who turned out on such a beautiful night to hear our message and organize in advance of Horizon Wind Inc.’s most recent attempt at ‘public consultations’ on May 17 and 18th in the Thunder Bay area.
We did a lot to raise awareness about the inappropriate proposal for the Nor’Wester Escarpment. I was fortunate to have some time on AM 740 to speak to Dale Goldhawk about the Wind Concerns Ontario ‘Truth about Turbines Tour’ and my visit to Thunder Bay, and had a couple of interviews with local Thunder Bay TV News, and other local media here. It is critical that we tell our stories and I was happy to tell Thunder Bay’s tonight and to stand with them to fight.
Resident’s of Thunder Bay made it clear they are ready to stand up to fight the developer and local MPPs to protect the Nor’Wester Escarpment from Industrial Wind development.
There was a defiant, upbeat crowd that understands more than anyone the importance of protecting the Nor’Wester Escarpment and the Loch Lomand watershed protection land from clear cutting and blasting – something local residents, the provincial government and the local municipalities have pushed for, for almost a hundred years.
We had school age children, teens, young adults, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents at our rally standing in common purpose. It was an amazing sight!
I was asked to judge the Nor’Wester Escarpment Mountain Protection Committee’s drawing contest for young kids that saw about a dozen entries. Children were asked to draw the Nor’Wester escarpment in it’s current beauty as a reminder of what their parents, and grandparents are fighting to protect for their future. The winner received a new bike that was generously donated by members of the NEMPC committee.
7 Comments »Coal and Racism as Political Weapons in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario
Surprised to see coal and racism have anything to do with each other? Welcome to Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario. Disagree with him and you’re a coal loving, puppy kicking, candy stealing from a child, racist. You probably want to close hospitals and schools too.
The wind industry and it’s political supporters (and donation recipients) at the Ontario Liberal Party have turned the word ‘coal’ into a political weapon. If you disagree with their bizarre industrial wind energy scheme you must support burning coal (even if more wind power generation won’t result in less coal power generation). It also becomes your fault people are dying – apparently in droves if you believe non doctors from Canadian Association of ‘Physicians’ (used sparingly) for the Environment like Gideon Foreman. McGuinty will tell you coal related illnesses cost Ontarians $3 billion dollars a year in health care costs – just don’t expect him to prove it or produce the savings when coal generation is permanently phased out. Because it isn’t true and he knows it.
Dalton McGuinty has had two responses to Tim Hudak’s opposition to signing untendered, seven billion dollar secret deals with a corrupt company like Samsung and ending the Feed-in-Tariff program. First McGuinty tried to suggest Tim Hudak was a racist. Then he tried to suggest Tim Hudak wants to burn more coal.
Neither argument is true, but it’s Dalton McGuintyso the truth isn’t a necessary ingredient of any statement.
From Tuesday May 10th’s Toronto Sun:
Hudak “can’t mention Samsung without calling them foreigners,” McGuinty said. “It’s not the 1950s, it’s the 20th century.”
First, it actually isn’t the 20th century. It’s the 21st century and has been for a whole eleven years. Second, the Premier suggesting that racism in the 1950′s was OK and perhaps even a legitimate argument in determining business relationships is enlightening, but at the end of the day irrelevant because Samsung could be from Markham, or Ottawa, or Windsor, or Hamilton and it still would be a bad idea. Sole sourced, untendered contracts negotiated by George Smitherman, the man who brought us the e-Health scandal kickbacks of your money to Ontario Liberal friends, with a company known for buying politicians off is clearly a recipe for disaster.
From Tuesday May 10th’s Globe and Mail:
Mr. McGuinty said Mr. Hudak is against foreign investment and clean air. He said the Opposition Leader would kill jobs and take Ontario back to the dark days of relying on pollution-spewing, coal-fired plants for electricity.
First – the Progressive Conservatives have stated publicly they would phase out all coal plants in Ontario by 2015. Dalton McGuinty promised to by 2007 (broken promise) 2011 (broken promise) 2014.
Second – Wind turbines can never replace coal because they are an unreliable form of energy project that requires a fossil fuel back up. That’s what all these new Natural Gas plants are about (replacing coal fired generation and backing up wind turbines).
Third – On Tuesday May 10th 2011 when Tim Hudak pledged to scrap McGuinty’s deal with the corrupt Samsung and end the Feed-in-Tariff program to industrial wind developers coal output was at 4MW an hour all day.
So enough to keep a pilot light from going out.
How much coal was burned on May 11th, the day after per hour? 3 to 4MW all day.
And May 12th? 3 to 4MW all day.
OK, but how about May 13th? 4MW all day.
In other words coal fired generation in Ontario is already basically phased out and it has nothing to do with wind, why? Because when turbines were operating at 1000MW tilt two weeks ago we were generating 200MW of coal fired power, and today, May 13th when wind turbine generation fell to 33MW – coal was still at 4MW.
That said, don’t expect the Liberals to formally announce it just yet, because those turbines aren’t in the ground to credit for taking these plants offline.
Dalton McGuinty loves a good lie, and his cabinet seems obsessed with this ‘coal being replaced by wind’ lie. But it just isn’t credible and should have Ontarians wondering why we’re spending billions and billions of dollars on a plan with a stated purpose it can’t meet, and has already been met.
Tim Hudak is doing the right thing withthis policy announcement. I like that he is honest and willing to say and do the right thing, even if it results in McGuinty going ballistic. It will prove politically popular in the right places and firmly draws the line between special interests and citizens. McGuinty’s attacks are so bizarre they won’t stick. Who knows, maybe the Premier is running for leader of the third party like his federal cousin?
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