Democracy is gone with the wind
Administrator | Apr 15, 2013 | Comments 7
Ontario’s rural/urban divide about industrial wind turbines has not yet become Civil War, but “Gone with the Wind” comes to mind, as the wind-worshipping Ontario government continues to withhold democracy from a large segment of our population. Citizens on both sides of the escalating wind energy war passionately believe they are in the right.
Recent Ontario-wide uprisings against our Toronto-based government’s coalition with the Wind Industry remind me of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion against the Toronto-based Family Compact. All sought democracy. Unlike William Lyon Mackenzie’s rural reformers of 1837, today’s rural rebels have not yet taken extreme measures; so far their battles have been peaceful demonstrations, media debates, and court challenges…still seeking democracy and increasingly willing to fight.
Meanwhile Ontario’s government keeps on robbing its rural citizens of not only democracy, but also tranquil sleep, healthy home sites, safe wildlife habitat, pastoral landscapes, future tourism revenues, life savings invested in home values, and affordable electricity.
Until recently, most rural Ontarians did not fully realize the extent to which government-supported wind energy developers are expropriating their property rights. But now they know.
In Gone With the Wind Rhett Butler’s final words to Scarlett O’Hara were “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Today most rural Ontarians do give a damn. Their democracy is “gone with the wind”. To support legal actions against wind factories too close to home sites and wildlife areas, concerned residents of Prince Edward County are now clicking on a DONATE link at www.ccsage.wordpress.com. They are planning to join their neighbours at a Town Hall meeting at Picton’s Regent Theatre on April 25 at 6:30 PM, where they will keep trying to find a peaceful way to prevent industrial wind turbines from destroying tranquil and healthy neighbourhoods. Doors will open at 6p.m.
Jim McPherson, Milford
Filed Under: Letters and Opinion
Here’s the link…
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/12/blizzard-wind-power-ontarios-liberal-government-has-blown-it#.UWnUkU1r-5Q.email
Isn’t it something in this crazy world when our very own tax dollars are being used to fight against our own stand to prevent this unnecessary destruction of the County’s environment. A revolt is required. This is not right to have to fight a government using our hard earned tax dollars to shut us up. What has society created?
Ontario needs to wake up. WE cannot afford the high prices that wind and solar are going to cost us on our hydro bills and we cannot afford to lose the jobs that industry is going to have because they cannot afford the high cost of electricity to run their plants. Ontario is going to become more and more of a have not province.
McGinty started the ball rolling and Wynne is not going to stop it. What are we going to do???
The PECFN are doing everything they can to stop the destruction of Ostrander point. But they are up against big money–3 lawyers for Gilead and 2 for MOE(who are paid for by our tax payer dollars)
Has everyone seen what is proposed on the Hwy 33, Kingston side that will affect how many County properties?
http://ontario-wind-turbines.org/
How do we know with the numbers of turbines that the noise and flicker won’t affect us unless there are health studies FIRST. What happens as in Falmouth Mass. where they actually wanted them and benefited locally from them…then the cost of taking them down. Tax payer dollars or do we look at them for a long time to come.
@ Mike Barnard… Here’s an interesting irony for your consideration. By reducting the affective connotations of the last two sections of your comment you get an opposing truth:”And don’t forget that many proponents of wind energy in rural areas are not rural dwellers, but well-off urbanites who have weekend places and would like the full-time dwellers to be less devoted to preserving the rural fantasy that they escape to, gaining more economic benefits from more uses of the land they have.
Finally, don’t forget all of the other players in the game. The motivations of proponents of wind energy are often very murky.”
Seems that “truth” like beauty, is in the eye (bias) of the beholder.
David Norman, Rogue Primate of Bloomfield
The spin continues. Pro IWT folks are sounding desperate. Could that be because many countries are turning away from IWT projects and profits are drying up?
Keep following the $$$ trail and you will have all the answers.
It’s a rural-rural divide. Virtually every well structured, reliable poll taken shows strong majority support for wind energy in rural areas by rural people. That the large majority of urbanites also like wind generation for its excellent characteristics merely makes the minority of those opposed to wind energy smaller.
And don’t forget that many of those opposed to wind energy in rural areas are not rural dwellers, but well-off urbanites who have weekend places and would like the full-time dwellers to be devoted to preserving the rural fantasy that they escape to, instead of gaining economic benefits from more uses of the land they have.
Finally, don’t forget all of the other players in the game. The motivations of those opposed to wind energy are often very murky.
http://barnardonwind.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/not-just-nimbys-understanding-anti-wind-energy-campaigners/