Posts Tagged ‘George Smitherman’
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
1 Comment »George Smitherman Should Resign…
…and not to fullfil his hubristic fantasies of being the King of a(ny) Castle. He should resign because the eHealth scandal happened on his watch. He should resign because he was Ministry of OLG and like eHealth shoved that issue off on a Cabinet colleague instead of taking responsibly for the corrupt actions he has allowed to happen on his watch. This is a man who talks screams first, and fails to think at all. He loves the game, but clearly doesn’t do the work.
He has failed Ontarians, and demonstrated he is a man whose ethical bar is so low one could trip over it. I don’t see how Premier McGuinty expects to continue to govern with this overgrown school yard bully running around the Cabinet room, throwing cash at the firms that are run by his former employees, and prepping his Cabinet colleagues, and possible leadership contenders for a political stabbing they simply won’t ever recover from.
Caplan should have resigned too, but not for eHealth. He was the Minister of OLG until him and Smitherman traded scandals Ministries.
I’ve said before that when Andrea Horwath and Tim Hudak agree on something – the Premier should listen. I don’t believe there has been a time when they’ve agreed on something that I have disagreed, and expect many Ontarians have a similar experience to their agreement on issues.
Ontarians deserve a government that isn’t going to blow over a billion dollars on back pats for their friends, while failing to live up to the job. Electronic health records are serious business. They will save lives and create a more effecient health system by ending duplicated tests, over prescription of drugs, and the dangerous situations that arise from a lack of information in the doctor/patient relationship. If the Premier, Smitherman or Caplan actually cared about this important goal, they wouldn’t have turned the agency responsible into a scandal ridden piggy bank for their friends.
As for Minister Smitherman not feeling ‘Survivor’s guilt’ over Caplan’s firing – you need a sense of densency and integrity to have a conscience that would compel you to feel guilt. The Toronto Star put it best when they said about Minister Smitherman’s handling of the Green Energy Act: ‘George Smitherman couldn’t find the political high road with a state-of-the-art GPS.’
Perhaps Dalton McGuinty needs to find his spine and point Minister Smitherman in the direction of the nearest exit, before Ontarians opt to do the same for the Premier.
90% of 680 News listeners would agree.
10 Comments »The Proposed Mississauga/Oakville Natural Gas Plant the Result of more Wind Turbines
Wind Power is the least reliable source of energy in the Ontario grid. Power generated from wind is intermittant at best, and unlike all other sources of power within Ontario’s grid, not only can output not be controlled, the folks who bring us these massive industrial wind complexes know so little about their own product they over estimate how much power they will feed into the grid 58% of the time. (This number provided by the Independant Electricty Operator ‘Wind Power Forcast Impacts on Effeceiency’ presented at the May 14th 2008 meeting of the Wind Power Standing Committee).
The IESO describes the wind industry’s failure to estimate their output accurately (something no other form of power within the grid has the same issue with) by saying “The variable nature of wind will however introduce specific challenges to the reliability of the integrated power system. These challenges are magnified as the number of wind power projects that are connected to the grid increases.”
By ‘specific challenges’ they mean supplying a constant flow of electricity to meet the needs of Ontario’s power use. Because wind power is not remotely tied to supply and demand, other sources of energy that are reliable need to step up when the wind calms down. Criticize me if you’d like, but this comes from “Mr. Wind” himself (as George Smitherman has taken to calling himself — seriously.)
Germany is building 26 new coal power plants to solve this problem. Denmark is exporting the power and not using it for domestic use. Texas has opted to have brown outs. Ontario is proposing Natural Gas plants to solve this problem. In fact, George Smitherman himself has said the Natural Gas plants being built around the GTA are designed to pick up the slack when the wind isn’t blowing sufficiently to allow turbines to generate electricity (approximately 65% of the time). The only reason downtown Toronto were forced to accept a Natural Gas plant on the waterfront, and the residents of Mississauga/Oakville are fighting like hell to protect their airshed from even more pollution is because as George Smitherman says, you need to build Natural Gas to as a relief for when turbines don’t generate electricity (which is most of the time).
These two issues are really one.
It seems to me like Ontario needs to have an honest and open debate about our energy future before allowing the wind industry to force turbines on some communities, risking human health and the environment; while forcing natural gas plants on others which also risk human health, and the environment. You’ll notice both trash local democracy in the process and neither is planned sufficiently to protect human health or the environment. Incidentally, both are heavily influenced by big oil.
Interestingly, Transalta – the Albertan company planning to build the plant in Mississauga/Oakville – is the same oil and gas company that operates wind turbines. You may remember them from such bad projects as Pincher Creek in Alberta that sees the needless death of 700 bats each year, even though Transalta could mitigate this easily if they chose to.
Enbridge is another oil and gas company involved in the devleopment of industrial scale wind complexes and the sale of Natural Gas in Ontario.
Suncor is an oil and gas company building turbines in Ontario too.
I fundamentally believe that Ontarians have a right to participate in decision making. It’s clear Dalton McGuinty doesn’t support the democratic process or environmental protection. Dalton McGuinty isn’t being a leader by trampling democracy, he’s sticking up for his Party’s donors. It seems to me like accepting money from corporations your government hands out contracts to is highly unethical. But for Dalton McGuinty this seems to be business as usual with his friends in the oil and gas and wind industries. Planning an Ontario Liberal Party fundraiser seems to be as easy as calling up the folks who have been given government contracts and advising them of the legal donation limit. Challenge me on this, but first visit the Elections Ontario website to see how many folks with government contracts donate exclusively to the Ontario Liberal Party.
Dalton McGuinty should take note that his friend Ben Chin (who he appointed VP Communications of the Ontario Power Authority) lost the Toronto Danforth by-election to Peter Tabuns largely on the Portlands Natural Gas plant.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see some of the Liberal MPPs in Mississagua and Oakville finding they have a similar problem if this project is forced on this community by a Premier far more interested in his donors and friends financial interests than those of the citizens of this province.
It is citizens that have the vote, and there isn’t enough dirty money in his party’s coffers to change that simple fact.
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