ONTARIO ENERGY MINISTER SAYS :
Duguid refused to say how much cancelling the multi-million dollar contract would cost taxpayers; however, opposition MPPs predicted it will cost about $1-billion.
Province scraps plans to build Oakville power plant – 680News
OAKVILLE, Ont. – It’s a victory for the people of Oakville, as the McGuinty government has backed off plans to build a controversial power plant.
At a news conference Thursday, Energy Minister Brad Duguid said the natural gas plant will not be built in Oakville or in any other town in the GTA.
“Construction of the proposed gas plant in Oakville will not be moving forward,” Duguid said. “Nor will this plant move forward elsewhere in the GTA.”
Duguid said demand for electricity in the GTA has dropped since the project was first proposed in 2006, and now, it’s been determined the plant is no longer needed.
Oakville residents who crammed the energy minister’s news conference — at Otello’s Banquet and Conference Room on Royal Windsor Drive — applauded the province’s decision to scrap the plant and called it a victory for all of Ontario.
People cheered outside the banquet hall, which is not far from what was supposed to be the location for the new power plant, to be built by Trans Canada.
“The extraordinary efforts of ordinary citizens, people who knew that what was being proposed was wrong, and who were not prepared to just stick their head in and let other people worry about it,” said Karen, who lives just under two kilometres away from where the plant was supposed to be built.
Duguid refused to say how much cancelling the multi-million dollar contract would cost taxpayers; however, opposition MPPs predicted it will cost about $1-billion.
via Province scraps plans to build Oakville power plant – 680News.
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- Domini Kurek/Oakville Beaver
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- Oct 04, 2010 – 3:00 PM
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Brockovich urges community to fight power plant
The fight to stop the 900-megawatt power plant in southeast Oakville must begin with the community using its voice to challenge those in power, said environmental activist Erin Brockovich.
Brokovich spoke at a $125-a-plate luncheon at Velux Canada in Oakville on Friday, which attracted about 110 people and the media.
The night before she spoke at a private $150-a-plate dinner at Appleby College. Both events were presented by Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA) to raise funds and awareness for the organization to help it stop the construction of the gas-fired power plant proposed at 1500 Royal Windsor Dr.
Brockovich is best known for creating a legal case against a utility company in California after a community’s drinking water became contaminated with a toxic substance that poisoned residents. The case was made famous by a 2000 film, titled Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts. The 50-year-old currently runs a consulting firm that focuses on personal injury claims brought on by asbestos exposure. She is also a paid public speaker whose fee is usually about $25,000.
Brockovich told her audience that the community must raise its voice because litigation, which can take 5-15 years, simply takes too long. Furthermore, once people are sick, litigation and compensation won’t fix those problems.
She said the Oakville community should become an example to the rest of the world because of its fight against the power plant. She pointed to the large rally at Queen’s Park to protest the power plant earlier this year, which drew about 2,500 protesters. The rally was also the largest in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s tenure as premier.
In her presentation, Brockovich showed a map of the Unites States with countless dots. She said behind each dot were more dots, of which there were too many to display. Each dot indicated an area where there is an excess of cancer.
“This is telling me there is a problem and somebody isn’t listening,” she said.
She said the best tool to fight these problems is awareness.
“I encourage communities to be aware. Educate yourselves. Awareness is key,” she said.
She said that such battles, such as the one she led in 1993, are getting tougher, but no matter how hard it seems, people must not give up. She said there will always be opposition, but when a person hits rock bottom they must get back up.
“What I want you to know, and something I often forget, when you think you may be drowning you’re not. There is something that will get you through every single time. That is hope and belief in yourself,” she said.
She said people must keep fighting these issues and referenced the movie in her speech.
“The movie is not about who won and who lost, but about who was willing to stand up and fight.”
When there is a problem, such as a poisonous substance in the water, or in Oakville’s case in the air, those trying to cover up the issue will try to skew it with the use of numbers.
However, she added when the local water supply is poisoned, it doesn’t matter what the substance is or how much of it there is, because a poison is a poison and people should not drink it.
The Kansas born and raised Brokovich said, “When I saw a tornado I didn’t give a damn if it was an F4 or an F5. I was running. We’ve forgotten to do that.”
She said science is often behind the issue. People will only learn some 20 years later, after too many have gotten sick, that something, such as a power plant, should not have been put where it was.
“You need to rise up and say I don’t want to be this dot in 20 years,” she said referencing her map.
In the case of the California community, when people and animals began getting sick because of the water contamination, she said the root of the problem was deceit where a company tried to cover up the issue.
“Deceit is not just a word. Deceit is a choice somebody makes to jeopardize the community,” she said.
She gave an example that if family members cannot communicate freely with each other because of lying then the family will lose its unity and the same goes for a community. We have to start believing in our voice again, she said.
One particular voice that must be heard, she said is that 80 per cent of the area community is opposing the Oakville power plant.
On Friday night, Brockovich also appeared at a screening of Erin Brockovich at Encore Cinemas and a private dinner at Jonathans Restaurant.
