Posts Tagged ‘Dalton McGuinty Protest’
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.”
1 Comment »Last Night It Was Dalton McGuinty Vs. Free Speech – Free Speech Took a Hit, but Won the Fight
Last night as I was waiting for protesters to arrive at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus for Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal BBQ, I was approached by two of the Premier’s Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) bodyguards and asked if I was John Laforet and if I was planning on holding a protest. I replied that both of those statements were true and then told that the campus was private property and we could protest but would have to do it from the shoulder of the road (hundreds of metres away from the event). When I informed the Premier’s bodyguards of my democratic freedoms, and the University of Toronto’s policy on free speech and it’s very liberal protection of the right of protest, their response was to reaffirm that this was not the case tonight, and that because the Ontario Liberal Party had rented a building on campus we could not protest on campus.
I explained that I knew Dalton McGuinty didn’t like democracy but that this was a little far even for him, especially because we were there over his attack on our rights as citizens under the Green Energy Act. That’s when I was told I would be arrested if I chose to stay on campus to protest Dalton McGuinty. I asked the officers for their names and badge numbers and told them that I was calling Campus Police as they were the authority responsible for securing the campus and protecting my right of free speech and I would not be letting the Premier, or them interfere with it, simply because Dalton McGuinty is too cowardly to face his citizens. His response was to ask me how I spelt my name and what my birthday was.
I called Campus Police and asked that they send an officer to enlighten the Premier’s bodyguards and to protect my right of free speech from this assault. An officer arrived, spoke to the bodyguards and came back to tell me that I in fact did not have the right of free speech tonight because the Ontario Liberal Party had rented a building on campus and it was private property. I pointed out that the University of Toronto free speech policy wasn’t ‘for rent’ and even if Dalton McGuinty wanted to prevent me from exercising my rights, I do still have them and would not be letting anyone take them away by threatening to arrest me. That’s when the University of Toronto campus police told me that I would have to leave the property and he was simply acting as an agent for the University. He added that if I did not, I would be arrested.
I offered a quick lesson in media relations to the Premier’s bodyguards and the Campus Police and advised them that when the media arrived those three gentlemen and Dalton McGuinty’s new, frightening low in tolerance for democracy would be the new story considering we were present anyways over his attack on our rights and never assumed he would dare try to remove our constitutional rights. I advised campus police, I would ensure this issue stayed alive on campus because this went against everything the university and democracy are supposed to be about. I had was three guys looking back at me, each with the power to arrest me, at least two prepared to do so, even if I knew I had fundamental rights as a Canadian and as someone on the University of Toronto campus exercising free speech. They didn’t care. Not tonight at least. Dalton McGuinty was in town.
So I looked at them and said ‘the police are supposed to protect people and their rights. Who is one supposed to call when it is the police taking away rights you know you have and they won’t listen?’ Blank stares all around. I asked the Campus Police to tell me who suspended the free speech policy for the Premier’s visit and asked if he could get that individual on the phone as this was sure to become a major embarrassment for all involved. I voluntarily removed myself from the property and protesters set up along the driveway as Liberal guests began arriving.
Media arrived, the bodyguards split and I explained what had just happened, while the campus police officer looked on from within the grounds of this newly private, protest free zone. About fifteen minutes later, a representative from the University of Toronto came out to tell me that we would be allowed on campus and that the free speech policy was in effect. The reporters came to listen to the conversation and I asked why I had been threatened with arrest on campus for exercising free speech, why campus police did nothing to prevent that from happening and why the sudden change. He was answer-less.
After hearing the news, I crossed the road yelling to the protesters ‘free speech has been restored, we’re now allowed back on campus’.
At the end of the day the following was clear. Dalton McGuinty’s bodyguards were wrong when they attempted to intimidate me. Campus police was wrong when they concurred, and the University of Toronto was wrong for allowing the Premier to think he would be entitled to a protest free environment. That is not how democracy works.
The threat of arrest for exercising your rights is a very frightening prospect. The only reason to control protests is to control the message. The reality is Dalton McGuinty doesn’t have as rosy a picture in Scarborough as he would like or would like to project, and it is clear that this Premier’s view of democracy is one of personal entitlement for him, and not something those who disagree should be allowed to participate in.
If we’re to maintain our democracy we must always question authority, and challenge things we know not to be true. We must stand up for justice and fairness and not let guys like Dalton McGuinty try to use his bodyguards as some sort of constitutional right busters. They were wrong from the start, and clearly counting on the fear of my impending arrest to make me comply with what was not a legal request. But I didn’t. I stood up. And I stood up again to the next person who tried to intimidate me into doing what the Premier’s people wanted me to do, but could not legally force me to. It took that standing up to make Dalton McGuinty’s bodyguards to back down on an order that clearly came from well beyond the realm of the OPP.
Being arrested in defense of free speech is something I would be prepared to do if I was not confident that the University would bend under pressure and reason. Frankly, from the road as I waited for the name of the individual who decided to suppress free speech for the Premier, I was looking down the driveway and planning how I would slowly walk back in, up the middle of the road, very purposefully in my step to call their bluff, relying on the fact that even if I was arrested, any court in the land on any day would recognize the clear violation of my charter rights, and the University of Toronto’s free speech policy and blame for that violation would land at the foot of Dalton McGuinty, a man who proves how much he dislikes democracy with each bill he passes to limit it, each use of public money for partisan gain, and each attempt to intimidate people into giving up their rights.
Last night was not McGuinty’s night. Free speech won out in the end, but only because I stood up and refused to be intimidated. That is the lesson for everyone. Stand up for yourselves, and your rights. Question authority and don’t bow to pressure.
It is clearer to me now than ever that Dalton McGuinty is not deserving or fit to be Premier of Ontario. Forget about the HST, doubling the debt, E-Health, and all the rest of his scandals. The fact is that Dalton McGuinty is a man who attacks democracy at every turn and that is far more serious than even the worst policy decision he makes. Those can be easily fixed. Erosion to our democratic system cannot.
Think about it.
Do something about it.
Last night I did.
10 Comments »Promise Made, Promise Kept – Guildwood Residents Stand Up to Dalton McGuinty in Scarborough
Bluffs residents have warned McGuinty they’re ready for a fight. “Residents won’t lay down,” said local activist John Laforet. Toronto Star: McGuinty Vows to Stop Wind-Farm NIMBYs February 11 2009
When Dalton McGuinty came to Scarborough six months after he and his Deputy Premier launched an unprecedented attack on Guildwood residents, residents stood up and made good on that pledge. With just a weekend to plan, we were able to get as many protesters as the Premier had guests at an Ontario Liberal Party BBQ intended to get Scarborough Provincial Liberals excited about the next election.
While the Ontario Liberal Party BBQ was organized by staff from taxpayer funded government offices at Queen’s Park, the food was provided by Enbridge – a wind farm developer, and the Premier tried to use his bodyguards to intimidate us into leaving – resident’s stood strong and sent their message loud and clear.
I am proud to have worked with so many Guildwood residents to organize this event. It was great to be joined by members of the community, members of the sailing community and to see folks whose lives have been personally affected by the wind installation at Ripley come out to tell Dalton McGuinty that all is not well for him and Ontario Liberals.
We were so clear with that message that CityTV led with tonight for the 11pm news. Below is that footage and some pictures taken by Jessica Laforet. If the video doesn’t work click on this link to CityTV News and watch the clip on their website.
Slide show of pictures:
11 Comments »
