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Smith to host Town Hall on wind

Steven Draper, PolePics Aerial view (looking East-South-East) of the Ostrander Point Crown Land Block with Lake Ontario in the background. The property is outlined in red (orange?). The proposed location of the nine (9) wind turbines are indicated by the Xs. Not shown are the 5.4km of roads which will also be constructed to provide access to the turbine bases.

Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Todd Smith says he’s putting the ‘public’ back in the public consultation process regarding the proposed wind development on Prince Edward County’s south shore.
Smith is hosting a town hall at St. Andrew’s Church in Picton on Feb. 2 at 6pm. Over the last week, Smith’s office has been working with stakeholders in Prince Edward County including environmental groups and groups of concerned citizens to set up the event.
“I’ve been dealing with a half dozen groups in Prince Edward County on this issue. I have petitions with hundreds of names on them in my office. I’m encouraging the ministry officials to attend this town hall. If the Liberals decide to put these wind factories up, it won’t be because they didn’t hear the objections. It’ll be because they didn’t care about what those objections were.”
Smith said projects like the one scheduled for the south shore of Prince Edward County are often posted to the EBR at the Ministry of Environment for a 64-day public consultation period but many third party groups have criticized the process.

“If the Liberals were interested in more thorough public consultation, they’d have extended the comment period. But we were the ones who had to get that done for Prince Edward County,” said Smith. “If they were serious about having more local input, they’d be in Picton setting up meetings like this. It’s difficult to tell how the Liberals intend to conduct a public consultation without consulting the public.”

Criticisms, he said, range from the lack of publicity surrounding the announcement of public consultation periods to a lack of serious consideration of concerns raised by members of the public during the process. Many have noted that construction on these projects has often gone on even while appeals are under consideration by the Ministry of Environment.

Smith has invited ministry officials responsible for overseeing the project and his caucus colleague and Opposition Energy Critic, Vic Fedeli, Nipissing MPP.
He notes Fedeli, the former mayor of North Bay, is considered one of the most well versed MPPs in the legislature when it comes to the Green Energy Act and its effects.
“Vic Fedeli has quickly become one of the most respected voices in the Legislature on this issue. As a former mayor of North Bay, he knows what it means to have local control taken away on issues like this,” said Smith. “As our Energy Critic, he’s an intellectual force to be reckoned with on the careless policy that is the Green Energy Act.”

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