Democracy disconnected in rural Ontario
Administrator | Jul 16, 2012 | Comments 5
In Rural Ontario we have already lost democracy.
On Saturday July 14th the Toronto Star featured Rick Salutin on Democracy, the first of a six-part series. That same Saturday the South Marysburgh Mirror sponsored a secret ballot in which 90.2% of 542 registered voters opposed Industrial Wind Turbines for our Prince Edward County ward. (www.southmarysburghmirror.com.)
The provincial government is industrializing our countryside despite the protests of the people who live here. We tried an election that dramatically reduced rural representation in the Ontario government’s ranks. We participated in developers’ “public consultation” meetings.
Elections do not work because urban voters prevail. The “public consultation” process is a sham. The Ontario government is imposing wind energy factories on rural Ontarians despite their threats to our health, our wildlife, our real estate investments, and our local economies.
What next? Let the rural revolution begin!
Jim McPherson, Milford
Filed Under: Letters and Opinion
Brock I heard they bought all the Salmon Point LIghthouse property and hudreds of acres on the far side of Lake on the Mountain and a lot of property in the Indian Point area-well I guess time will tell
To answer Doris’ question my suspicion is that they are absentee land owners who have an eye on the golden goose of IWT on their land holdings. My sincere hope is that they are in for a shock and lose their respective shirts.
This is in my view the fundamental issue… for example, is the “peoples” vote against Industrial Wind Turbine development in South Marysburgh, anarchy or democracy in action? Will the historical tradition of “aristocratic” political administration ever be addressed… will it ever be recognized for its flawed ideological character?
Jim’s article identifies the key issues in just a few words: (1) urban prevails over rural and (2) public consultation is a sham.
People assume that “public consultation” means that the government will listen and then take action consistent with the input. In fact, the government allows public input but then ignores it or finds ways to neutralize what it doesn’t like.
Good article Jim–as Chris Keen said when Dalton was in Belleville he said he had a list of municipalities that wanted IWT’s–Ok let him move the PEC ones to where they want them, The only people who want them are the land owners who rent their land and after a little while putting up with these things they propbavly won’t want them either
On another topic does anyone know why a couple of big name Ontarians are buying up large tracts of land in the county?