The sitting Liberal government persists in “green” ideology despite energy poverty, no environmental benefit from industrial-scale wind turbines
Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara-West Glanbrook, put forward a Private Member’s Bill in the Legislature yesterday, proposing the government halt all wind power approvals in unwilling host communities.
An excerpt from his speech:
Industrial wind turbines are one of the reasons people are facing a choice between heating and eating. Expensive and counterproductive power subsidies for turbines we don’t want or need have contributed to the soaring hydro prices that are among the greatest burdens the people of Ontario have to face.
Whether they are spending billions of dollars to stretch out future debt payments or handing out rich subsidies to industrial wind turbine operators, this government will always stick Ontarians with the bill.
I’m not just tilting at windmills like Don Quixote, but a comparison is in order. Cervantes, in his famous novel, wrote about a dreamer of no substance who could not perceive reality—sounds a lot like the Liberals and their hydro plan. This government’s scheme does nothing to address the root cause of the Ontario energy affordability crisis: the Liberals’ Green Energy Act. We call it the bad contracts act because it was designed to benefit Liberal corporate donors, and locks taxpayers into a 20-year contract for overpriced wind and solar power. It’s also for energy we don’t need.
Since 2009, Ontario has given away $6 billion—$6 billion—in surplus energy to US states. States that have lower energy costs than Ontario are getting electricity from us at discount prices. We’re giving businesses across the border a competitive edge over our own Ontario businesses. Truly, Premier Wynne is the best Minister of Economic Development the United States has ever had.
Speaker, I’d like to remind everyone that although the NDP also like to complain about high hydro costs and say that they too are on the side of local communities, they were complicit in setting the stage for industrial turbines being forced down the throats of rural municipalities across Ontario. The NDP joined the Liberals to pass the bad contracts act that enabled the government to sign contracts with big hydro companies that aren’t transparent and can’t be examined. Municipal governments also say that their planning authority was eliminated by this provincial legislation. …
The Minister of Energy has acknowledged that this government has made mistakes with the energy file. The Premier has acknowledged that there are serious issues on the energy file that her government is going to be working on. Yet they don’t seem willing to address the fundamental reasons behind those mistakes. Today, I’m giving them a chance, and I hope they’ll take up the chance that this government can make remedy. If they’re actually sorry, they will vote for this motion. If the Liberal government is actually willing to listen to rural residents, to listen to municipalities and to follow up on the words of their throne speech, I hope their caucus will vote in favour of my motion.
Several other MPPs spoke as well, including Jim McDonell, PC Energy Critic Todd Smith, and Michael Mantha and Gilles Bisson for the NDP.
Read the transcript and the results of the recorded vote here.
Read the letter from Mothers Against Wind Turbines (Inc.) here: MAWTI letter of endorsement Oosterhoff Motion to halt IWT 2017
23 Comments
Sommer
Thank you Sam Oosterhoff for standing up to this mismanagement of the energy portfolio!
Take a look at what Christopher Monckton of Brenchley had to say and perhaps you can imagine what he would say about what’s happening under Ontario’s current government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF2shfFFE5A
Notinduttondunwich
Oh my dog!!!! Thank you Mr. Sam Oosterhof … finally!!!!
Failing this you will see the concrete barricades going up in DD .. pallet and tire piles are readily available at our blockade staging sites… all men women and children are ready to resist…. let the DD redoubt commence….
Barbara
MIT Press Journals, August 2015
‘Global Environmental Politics’
Select:
‘Comparative Politics of Sub-Federal Cap-and-trade: Implementing the Western Climate Initiative’, August, 2015
“Since parliamentary institutions concentrate power, elite consensus is more important in Canada, while in the United States public opinion plays a more significant role.”
Read at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/glep/15/3
Rural Ontarians have had many years of trying to deal with this “elite” situation.
Rural Ontarians are not part of the “elite”.
The Western Climate Initiative is on the sub-national level.
Barbara
The Under-2 MOU issue also came up in the debate which is another sub-national initiative which Ontario signed on to in California May 19, 2015.
Surfaced again at the Climate Summit of the Americas, Toronto July of 2015.
Then in December 2015 at the UN COP 21 Paris meeting the Under-2 MOU surfaced again.
This has now become part of Global Environmental Politics.
Barbara
UN Environment
Climate Initiatives Platform
Under 2 MOU
Scroll down to Participants: Includes Ontario
http://www.climateinitiativesplatform.org/index.php/Under_2_MOU
Can also follow the links on this webpage.
Barbara
UNFCCC, May 20, 2015
UN Climate Change Newsroom
’12 States from Different Countries Sign to be Climate Leaders’, Ontario included.
Includes: Quote by Christiana Figueres on ‘Under -2- MOU’
http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/under-2-mou-a-subnational-global-climate-leadership
Barbara
Ontario Newsroom, Dec.12, 2015
Office of the Premier
Re: COP21, Paris
‘Ontario supports new climate change agreement’
Article mentions Premier Wynne’s participation in a panel discussion on Under 2 MOU in Paris.
More at:
https://news.ontario.ca/en/search?keywords=Climate+change+2015&page=6
Barbara
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
A Global Initiative For The United Nations
‘Global Mayors Governors Commit To Urban Sustainable Development Agenda And Aggressive Emissions Reductions’
Follow the link on this UN webpage > Under 2 MOU.
Webpage link to the article at:
http://unsdsn.org/?s=Vatican+City+Mayors+Conference
Barbara
News
Above UN article dated: Sept.23, 2015
Barbara
Some history
California & Baden-Wuerttemberg, Under 2 MOU c.2014.
California participation at:
https:um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/en/international-cooperation/international-cooperation/usa
Includes photo.
Barbara
Ontario Archives Oct.16, 2006
News Room:
Today, Ontario signed a MOU for cooperation with Baden-Wuerttemberg.
More at:
https://news.ontario.ca/archive/en/2006/10/16/Ontario-and-BadenWuerttemberg-Renew-Friendship.html
Barbara
Baden – Wuerttemberg
Towards A Sustainable Future
Scroll down to: International Cooperation
Includes:
The Climate Group
Partnership with Ontario, Canada
And other regions
https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/fileadmin/redaktion/bilder/Banner/UM-TOPS_en.pdf
Barbara
Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
International Cooperation with Canada
Visit to Toronto, 2011
“The visit to Toronto in 2011 by the Minister of the Environment Franz Untersteller concentrated on the energy topic. As well as meetings with environmental policymakers …”
https://um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/en/international-cooperation/international-cooperation/canada
Barbara
Climate Summit, New York City, Sept.23, 2014
Cities Compact of States and Regions Statement
Catalyzing Action
Provisional Copy
Origin back to 2010
Re:
Government Participation, UNFCCC and Partners
Compact of States and Regions
Timeline:
Sept., 2014
Oct . 2014
Jan., 2015
Dec., 2015 at COP21
At:
http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/09/CITIES-Compact-of-States-and-Regions.pdf
Barbara
UNFCCC
Cities & Subnationals
“The Compact of States and Regions was signed at the UN Climate Summit in New York in 2014 by influential state and regional coalitions, The Climate Group States & Regions Alliance, nrg4SD, and R 20 in partnership with CDP.”
http://newsroom.unfccc.int/lpaa/cities-subnationals/compact-of-states-and-regions-subnational-initiatives-driving-climate-ambition
Barbara
Compact of States and Regions Disclosure Report 2015
First Global Account
Reporting governments include:
Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
Ontario, Canada
And others
Report includes quotes attributed to:
Glen Murray, Ontario
Kathleen Wynne, Ontario
Report at:
https://www.theclimategroup.org/sites/default/files/compact-of-states-and-regions-disclosure-report-2015.pdf
Barbara
Ontario Newsroom, April 24, 2015
Office of the Premier
‘Joint Statement on Climate Change from the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec’
“Last week, in front of international leaders and experts, including, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we were present at the Quebec Summit on Climate Change, …”
Quebec Climate Change Summit, April 14, 2015 in Quebec.
At:
https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2015/04/joint-statement-on-climate-change-from-the-premiers-of-ontario-and-quebec.html
Barbara
More history
Quebec Press Release, Dec.15, 2014
COP20, Lima
Re: Canadian participation COP20, COP21, Quebec Climate Summit 2015, Climate Change, etc.
Follow-up on the New York UN Climate Conference Sept., 2014
At:
http://mddelcc.gouv.qc.ca/communiques_en/2014/C20141215-leadership_lima.htm
Barbara
Ontario Newsroom, Dec.13, 2014
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
‘Ministers Statement on Ontario’s Climate Change Leadership in Peru’
Re:
COP20, Lima
Hosting Climate Summit of the Americas, Toronto, July 2015
Signing the Compact of States and Regions
COP21
At:
https://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2014/12/ministers-statement-on-ontarios-climate-change-leadership-in-peru.html
Barbara
COP22, 2016
Ontario News Release, Nov.16, 2016
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
‘Leaders Discuss Environmental and Economic Benefits of North American Linked Carbon Market’
At:
https://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2016/11/ontario-quebec-and-california-hold-joint-climate-meeting-in-marrakech.html
Barbara
COP22, 2016
Ontario New Release, Nov.18, 2016
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
Ontario Leads on Climate Change at COP 22
‘Focus on Cap and Trade Program, Implementation of Paris Agreement’
At:
https://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2016/11/ontario-leads-on-climate-change-at-cop22.html
Barbara
Ontarians can now pay for these kids of activities and maybe pay for years to come as well !
Barbara
Should be: kinds of activities