Ontario’s Minister of the Environment was under fire in the Ontario legislature last week for approving an incomplete wind farm application.
“People in Wellington County are wondering if they can believe this minister any more,” said Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott. “I would submit that they can’t.”
Arnott’s question followed News the government approved a plan to proceed with a wind farm in Mapleton Township even though it lacked a key document – the municipal consultation form. Wellington County and the Township of Mapleton did not fill one out.
“The County of Wellington and the Township of Mapleton are making a statement based on the minister’s assurance that they would have a say,” Arnott said in the legislature. “But people were mistaken if they believed him.”
NextEra Energy Resources submitted an application to build a wind farm in Perth-Wellington. It received the approval two weeks before the county decided it would not take part in the consultation.
Wilkinson insisted the county had been consulted but did not deny the municipality refused to fill out the forms supposedly required for the proposal to proceed.
“His answer was completely without credibility,” Arnott said. He requested a rarely used legislative mechanism giving MPPs an opportunity to revisit earlier questions in a brief debate. A “late show” was scheduled for April 5. He wrote to Wilkinson to insist he attend the “late show” in person.
