Ivison wrong on wind farm
Re: Ford’s government acting like it’s closed for business, John Ivison, July 24
John Ivison’s arguments are ill-founded and misrepresent the facts on the ground.
I am also appalled by the reported interference in Ontario domestic affairs by the German ambassador and the otherwise sage John Manley’s bandwagon criticism of the Ontario government’s decision to terminate White Pines Development’s (wpd) degradation of the environment in Prince Edward County.
Good faith and NIMBY-ism have little to do with the history and reality surrounding the installation of industrial wind turbines in environmentally sensitive areas at the South Shore of Prince Edward County, known internationally for migratory bird populations and for the unique biodiversity offered by alvar terrain.
The county’s council is on the record as not being a willing host to such intrusions.
Wpd’s project has been opposed from the beginning by concerned citizens, who, at their own expense, took the project through tribunals and courts. Their actions resulted in rulings that reduced the project’s scope by 20 turbines. The final insult: even as opposition to the remaining nine continued, the independent IESO’s authority to proceed was given in “secret” and during the Ontario election campaign, a period, during which, by democratic convention, no decisions should be taken that bind a future government.
And this doesn’t even touch the legitimate arguments that the power from such installations is excess to Ontario’s requirements, cannot be stored and is sold to the U.S. at a loss, which were at the heart of the Ford campaign commitment to end such costly-to-Ontario-taxpayers boondoggles.
J.C. Sulzenko, Picton, Ont.
John Ivison’s comment that, “It is disconcerting in the extreme that governments across Canada keep getting in the way when what the country really needs is for them to get the hell out of the way,” sounds right, and would be right if the energy-supply business was openly competitive for market share, and wind and solar energy had to compete unsubsidized for customers like Tesla now needs to.
The trouble is, the advice should be retroactive to the day the decisions were made to take ratepayers to the cleaners while creating jobs for foreign firms.
Do we really need foreign firms to build infrastructure for energy we don’t need and can’t even give away? Who benefits besides the Green ideologues?
If Ford sends the wrong message about Ontario being closed for business to investors who exploit stupid government decisions, so much the better.
Kope Inokai, Toronto
Any fault arising from the cancellation of the White Pines Wind Project lies with the IESO (Independent Electricity System Operator crown corporation), not Premier Ford or his government. The hydro “planning and strategy,” long the object of media scorn, was clearly unpopular with the Ontario electorate for some time, and one of Mr. Ford’s chief promises was to clean up the fiasco. The previous Ontario government was obviously headed for defeat with this issue as the primary cause. For the IESO to have given the OK to proceed during the election campaign in light of this was arrogant and irresponsible.
As for wpd Canada, even with the IESO approval, it displayed what can only be described as a stunning naiveté. It tragically misread the situation in Ontario and is now paying for it.
John Winegarden, Scarborough, Ont.