23rd January 2012

Dear Mr Smith,
I am writing this open letter to you on behalf of the County Sustainability Group.
The Jan. 11 News Release announcing your Feb. 2nd "town hall" meeting and the (unpublicized) format of the meeting suggests that the meeting has been planned from the outset as a promotional vehicle for the County's anti-wind energy campaign and the ongoing PC political campaign against the Ontario Liberals' Green Energy policy rather than as a legitimate forum for public consultation.

Public not informed of meeting format; 

Only those organizations involved in setting up the meeting or those who take the trouble to contact your office are aware of the meeting format.  For the 2009 special PEC Council meeting to solicit public input on wind energy, public notice was given that deputations submitted a week ahead of the meeting would be allowed 10 min and that deputations from the floor would be allowed 3 min.  All deputations were accepted. The announcement of your “town hall” gave no information on rules for deputations nor indicated any other source where such rules are made public.

28-40 min. allocated to anti-wind energy presentations

The campaign to oppose wind turbines in PEC is driven by the CCSAGE coalition which comprises four local organizations including the Point to Point PEC Foundation (a group with no membership according to its co-founder).  Enquiries to your office revealed that a total of 18-30 minutes will be allocated to CCSAGE, one of its members, and two local bird organizations, all of whom have taken a strong position against the Ostrander Point wind project.  A further 10 minutes is allocated to a well known anti-wind turbine advocate, Dr. McMurtry. 

Keynote speaker is the Conservative Party energy critic

This "public consultation" meeting will end with an invited "keynote" speaker who not only happens to be a fellow PC MPP but is also the chief critic of the Ontario Government's green energy policy.

Time for open public input 20-30 mins. Little opportunity for Wind energy supporters to speak:

Your office indicated that the total time allocated for public input from the floor is 20-30 min. With one exception (see above) individual members of the public have no assured opportunity to express their views.

Only wind energy opponents appear to have been consulted in setting up meeting

The Jan 11 News release noted that "Over the last week, Smith’s office has been working with different stakeholders in Prince Edward County including environmental groups and groups of concerned citizens to set up the event." The County Sustainability Group is well recognized as a leader in the campaign to ensure PEC citizens are accurately informed about the need for green energy, and a known supporter of wind energy.  The fact that that no attempt was made to include CSG in planning the meeting, inevitably suggests that all of the people involved in setting up this event were strong opponents of the Ostrander Point wind project.

Given the apparent anti-wind bias in this meeting, and that it includes only token attempts to seek the views of County residents, we conclude that this meeting does not satisfy even the most basic criteria for an unbiased public consultation process.   To describe it as a "town hall" meeting is misleading in the extreme.

We support the Ostrander Point wind project and feel that CSG's participation on Feb. 2nd would simply add credibility to a meeting whose bias is so fundamental that it cannot easily be cured.  Hence we choose not to participate but look forward to meeting with you as our MPP face to face and providing you with our input in a neutral setting. 

We also suggest, if you really want to get a credible reading of opposition/support for wind energy in the County, that you enlist the help of a reputable polling company such as Ipsos Reid to design and conduct a survey of County residents.

Sincerely,
Rob Williams,
Member, County Sustainability Group

P.S.  In case you were not aware, an Ipsos Reid poll “Wind Energy in Ontario” (July 2010) revealed that 89% of those polled across Ontario supported the production of wind energy in their region of the province.  In East Ontario, excluding the GTA, the level of support was 88%.

RELATED:

For additional information on wind energy HERE