The Elston's: Sara, Suzanne, Brian
This woman works for the City of Oshawa as the Senior Environmental Advisor on the Board and she among other things is trying to shut down the Nuclear Power Industy in her neighborhood.
She (City of Oshawa) accepts the yearly financial donations from the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant and then tries to shut them down.
How many lives or how much of the environment has Suzanne Elston Saved? ZERO.
How many people will continue to lose their jobs and homes because of Suzanne Elston. 1000's.
Suzanne Elston is a FOUNDING Member of DNA – (Durham) Darlington Nuclear Awareness Project.
1997 Legislative Assembly of Ontario
SUZANNE ELSTON
The Chair: The next presenter is Suzanne Elston. Welcome to the select committee. You have 10 minutes for questions and answers.
Ms Suzanne Elston: Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Suzanne Elston. Like many of the presenters that have spoken today, I bring a variety of perspectives to this process. I am about to enter my second term as a public utilities commissioner for the municipality of Clarington. In this capacity, I serve on the Municipal Electric Association's environmental matters committee. I am a founding member of Durham Nuclear Awareness. My weekly environmental column is now in its ninth year of syndication around the province, and my radio commentary can be heard regularly on 110 national public radio stations in the Great Lakes basin. But that's not why I'm here.
I'm here because I'm a parent who lives within 10 kilometres of the Darlington nuclear generating station. I'm here because I'm concerned about the health of my three kids and the health, both economic and environmental, of this province.
The last two weeks have been very difficult. I've been juggling a very busy schedule with the lives of my three children who, thanks to education cuts, are no longer in school. It troubles me deeply that $1 billion in education cuts have paralysed our school system, while Ontario Hydro is allowed to commit $5 billion to $8 billion of our resources to its nuclear recovery program with little or no public consultation. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.
You may argue that the two are not related. I beg to differ. While one deals with ratepayers' funds and the other with taxpayers' revenues, the ultimate control is the same: the government of the province of Ontario. So why is it that this government is willing to paralyse the education system for $1 billion, but is unwilling to confront Ontario Hydro for almost 10 times that amount? I believe it is fear: fear of change, fear of Ontario Hydro, fear of the sheer force required to dismantle the largest utility in North America and fear of the financial consequences for this province. The time for fear is over; it's time for action.
It troubles me that it has taken 10 years of hard work to have the appropriate officials begin to come to the same conclusions that environmental activists made long ago: Nuclear power is unsustainable; our nuclear plants are in serious disrepair; the cost to maintain these plants renders them unviable. It troubles me that two years after it was released, the Macdonald committee report has all but been ignored. This is despite the fact that its recommendations are in essence supported by the MEA, the Municipal Electric Association, the environmental community, the Independent Power Producers' Society of Ontario and the individual utilities themselves.
It troubles me that, despite sweeping changes in the electricity sector in North America, Ontario Hydro's monopoly continues to control the energy future of this province. It troubles me that for too long we've been told to trust Ontario Hydro. It troubles me that over a year ago, Norm Sterling stood before the district 1 annual meeting of the MEA and promised that the release of the white paper was imminent. I now understand that the white paper will be released tomorrow. I find it troubling that, given the implications this document will have for the electricity sector, it was not made available for your deliberations or for the people that came to speak to you.
We need the recommendations of the Macdonald committee implemented now. We need to make Ontario Hydro accountable now. We need strong, sustainable energy plans that will allow this province to lead this country into the millennium now. We need a commitment from this government that both the Pickering A and the Bruce A stations will be shut down permanently. We can no longer throw good money after bad. What we need is action, and we need it now. Thank you for your time.
AUDIO CLIPS :
The Environmental Factor Inc . Oshawa ( Organic Product Supplier) Audio File: environmentalfactor
The Environmental Report: April 1, 2002 Audio: SuzanneElston_040102
Oshawa Environmental Advisory Committee (OEAC) Minutes
September 6, 2007 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Suzanne Elston provided an overview of the OEAC Terms of Reference which mandates that
the Committee will assist, advise and educate City Council, staff, and the community
with respect to the protection, enhancement, restoration, management and appreciation
of the natural and built environments, and to advance the goals of the Community
Strategic Plan.
S. Elston further overviewed the OEAC annual budget and the reimbursement of preapproved
member expenses.
S. Elston indicated that the OEAC will be a consensus style committee with subcommittee’s
being formed for special initiatives.
S. Elston further indicated that members of Council and Staff are fully supportive of her
role and that of the OEAC and that Council looks to the OEAC members for leadership
on environmental issues. Discussion by the Committee ensued regarding possible presentations and/or speakers
from the Region of Durham and other agencies.
S. Elston announced that the goal tonight would be discussing and recommending the
preferred pesticide process.
City of Oshawa Payouts to Suzanne Elston included below (more to be added)
March 6, 2009 – $361
May 8, 2009 – $493.86
May 29, 2009 – $892.26
Nov 6, 2009 – $133.62
Dec 30, 2009 – $255.32
Mar 5, 2010 – $245.36
June 11, 2010 – $301.90
January 2011 : An Activists Story
[Excerpts]
Carrying a child in my fortieth year was the hardest work that I have ever done. My unborn daughter seemed to sense this, and to my body's relief, decided to arrive a little earlier than anticipated. Although five weeks premature, Sarah weighed almost seven pounds and appeared to be in good health. Immature lung development can be a major problem for preemies, but after two days in an incubator, Sarah seemed fine.
The trouble began when she developed a cold a few months later. The virus left Sarah with a persistent cough that would not go away. After weeks of shuttling her back and forth to our family doctor, she finally saw a specialist who immediately admitted her into the intensive care ward at our local hospital.
The diagnosis was asthma and for the next two months our world became a nightmare struggle to save Sarah's life. Continuing to breast feed her seemed like the one thing that I could do to help my baby. I slept in hospital corridors and wrote my column on the back of the nurses' clipboards. In the face of her illness, continuing to write each week was the one thing that helped keep my life sane and predictable. It forced me to think rationally and in doing so, gave order to the world that seemed to be falling apart around me.
Her illness was so bad that for the first week she was only allowed to leave the oxygen tent that had become her home to be nursed. As we watched her struggle to breathe, we became parental experts on the disease that was threatening her life. Childhood asthma is on a dramatic increase in this country, particularly in the Montreal to Windsor corridor. It is not surprising that this area also hosts the most badly polluted air in Canada. I was angry. After all the sacrifices, after all the hard work, it was my baby that was stricken with an illness that could be directly related to air pollution. It just didn't seem fair.
I stayed by Sarah's side night and day while my husband cared for our sons and labored to create a safe haven for her for when she was able to return home. The first things to go were our old furnace and wood stove, followed sadly by our two beloved cats.
By the time her asthma was under control a month later, Sarah was on a hefty dose of prednisone. When we tried to take her off the drug, her body rebounded, and her tiny brain almost exploded. One moment she was lying peacefully in my arms, and the next we were rushing to emergency to save her life. A series of spinal taps and two weeks at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and we were finally able to bring our daughter home.
Two months had passed and we were physical, emotionally and financially exhausted. My husband I were already at the end of our ropes when the contractors we had hired to replace our oil furnace neglected to empty the oil tank before they tried to remove it. As they moved it off its base, the weight of the five hundred litres of fuel oil it still contained spilt the tank. Despite their best efforts to clean the mess up, the residual smell was so overpowering that our home was deemed unfit to live in. While Sarah and I resided at Sick Kids, my husband and sons moved into the local Holiday Inn while clean-up crews had to renovate our home to make it livable again.
When I look back, it's hard to believe that we survived it all in one piece. There were times that my husband and I could barely talk to each other and our two sons understandably became unsettled and unhappy. But in the end, we came through it all.
The circle was complete. I had stepped outside my own garden to ensure the safety of my children. Now my daughter's biggest enemy was our own home environment. After two years of living with a compressor four times a day, Sarah was transferred to inhalers shortly before her second birthday. Today, with careful monitoring and constant vigilance, she is a healthy, thriving little girl.
Pesticide Related:
Climate Change:
Independent Writer Annual Income $80,000 per year.
Wormsley Marketing Inc. New York – Suzanne Elston Owner
