As of August 19, 2016, 86 Ontario municipalities have passed a motion or resolution at Council, demanding the Wynne government and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) make municipal support a mandatory requirement for new wind power contract bids going forward.
Despite a surplus of electricity and the fact that Ontario ratepayers take losses weekly on sell-offs of extra power, while paying generators to “constrain” or, in the case of hydro and nuclear, to spill or steam off, the Ontario government still plans to proceed with a request for proposals for 600 megawatts of new contracts in 2017. The new contracts will cost Ontario electricity customer billions, at a time when bills have risen dramatically, and more than 8 percent of electricity customers have allowed their accounts to fall into arrears, according to a report recently released by the Ontario Energy Board.

Wind power aiming at the wrong thing

Ontario’s “green” energy program, now widely regarded as a failure, was brought in to benefit the environment, specifically air quality. Ontario’s new Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe has commented that the government has made a mistake—the true source of emissions is in the transportation sector.
Municipalities say that wind power projects have been a very invasive and high impact form of infrastructure on their communities: aside from the increasing electricity bills (which have social costs in terms of energy poverty, resulting in more visits to food banks and greater strain on social services), reports of noise, inaudible sound and health effects, and environmental impacts such as the deaths of birds and bats.
As a result, several passed resolutions to the effect that they want municipal support to be a necessity in successful wind power bids. As a City of Ottawa councilor put it, before Ontario’s second largest city passed its own resolution, the siting of power plants should be in line with municipalities’ own development plans. Moreover, truly successful sustainable development must have “buy-in” from the community — there are many serious concerns about wind power projects that warrant municipal control over siting … or whether a project goes ahead at all.
“This has been growing over the last several years,” says Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson. “Three years ago, the Association of Municipalities [AMO] met in Ottawa and we attended a special meeting on wind power. Sixty-three municipalities were represented that day, and I recall one mayor saying, ‘We’ve been beaten up pretty badly’ by government and the wind power corporations. Now, the municipalities want the land use planning powers removed by the Green Energy Act returned—it’s the fair and transparent thing for this government to do.”
A symposium was held prior to the recent AMO 2016 conference in Windsor, attended by municipal representatives, the IESO, and the Energy ministry. The IESO told the municipal officials that they were open to change but that they were “bound” by ministerial directive.

Asking Wynne to restore democracy to rural Ontario

“Democracy should be restored,” comments North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins, whose municipality faced proposals by two huge wind power developers in the last contract round and where a plebiscite revealed more than 80 percent of voters did not support the power projects. Environmental impact and property values were key concerns for the community. “I am hopeful the new Minister of Energy will meet with municipalities to discuss this,” he says.
While the 86 communities represents about 20 percent of all municipalities in Ontario, in fact it is the majority of municipalities that are vulnerable to wind power projects. The 86 span the province from east to west and include several in Ontario’s North. Several of the municipalities already have wind power projects operating—they have seen the complications first-hand, and have had enough.
See the list of communities here:

1. Adelaide-Metcalfe, Middlesex County
2. Alfred & Plantagenet, Prescott-Russell County
3. Amaranth, Dufferin County
4. Asphodel-Norwood. Peterborough County
5. Algonquin Highlands, Haliburton County
6. Armour, District of Parry Sound
7. Arran-Elderslie, Bruce County
8. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Huron County
9. Bayham, Elgin County
10. Bluewater, Huron
11. Brockton, Bruce
12. Brooke-Alvinston, Lambton
13. Bruce Mines, Algoma District
14. Cavan-Monaghan, Peterborough
15. Central Elgin, Elgin
16. Central Huron, Huron
17. Chamberlain, Timiskaming District
18. Chatsworth, Grey County
19. Clarington, Region of Durham
20. Dutton-Dunwich, Elgin
21. East Ferris, Nippissing District
22. Elgin, County of
23. Elizabeth-Kitley, Leeds and Grenville County
24. Essex, Essex County
25. Enniskillen, Lambton County
26. Gananoque, Leeds and Grenville
27. Georgian Bluffs, Grey
28. Greater Madawaska, Renfrew County
29. Greater Napanee, Lennox and Addington County
30. Grey Highlands, Grey
31. Hastings, County of
32. Hastings Highlands, Hastings County
33. Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, Peterborough
34. Hawkesbury, Prescott-Russell
35. Hornepayne, Algoma
36. Howick, Huron
37. Huron, County of
38. Huron-Kinloss, Bruce
39. Kawartha Lakes, City of
40. Killarney, Sudbury District
41. Kincardine, Bruce
42. Lakeshore, Essex
43. Lambton, County of
44. LaSalle, Essex
45. Laurentian Hills, Renfrew County
46. Leeds and the Thousand Islands, Leeds and Grenville
47. Lennox & Addington, County of
48. Madawaska Valley, Renfrew
49. Mapleton, Wellington
50. Magnetawan, Parry Sound
51. Marathon, Thunder Bay District
52. McDougall, Parry Sound
53. McNabb Braeside, Renfrew
54. Meaford
55. Merrickville-Wolford, Leeds and Grenville
56. Newbury, Middlesex
57. Mono, Dufferin County
58. Morris-Turnberry, Huron
59. Nairn and Hyman, Sudbury District
60. North Frontenac, Frontenac County
61. North Glengarry; Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
62. North Grenville, Leeds and Grenville
63. North Perth, Perth
64. North Stormont; Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry
65. Northern Bruce Peninsula, Bruce
66. Ottawa, City of
67. Perth, County of
68. Peterborough, County of
69. Plympton-Wyoming, Lambton
70. Prescott-Russell, United Counties of
71. Prince Edward, County of
72. Rainy River, Rainy River District
73. Ramara, Simcoe County
74. South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce
75. Southgate, Grey
76. Southwald, Elgin
77. Tillsonburg, Oxford County
78. Trent Lakes, Peterborough
79. Tudor and Cashel, Hastings
80. Tweed, Hastings
81. Val Rita-Harty, Cochrane District
82. Warwick, Lambton
83. Wainfleet, Niagara Region
84. West Grey, Grey
85. West Lincoln, Niagara
86. Zorra, Oxford