Perth-Wellington provincial NDP candidate Romayne Smith Fullerton has announced plans to establish a citizen’s advisory committee on industrial wind turbines.
Speaking in Drayton on Oct. 17, at the first of a series of “town hall” meetings she plans to host across the riding, Smith Fullerton noted one subject that keeps coming up during her “Listen and Learn Tour,” particularly in the rural part of the riding, is the issue of industrial wind turbines.
“It is an issue that was badly mishandled by the Liberals. They disenfranchised rural communities, caused division among neighbours, and quite frankly is one of those hot button issues where there is little consensus between urban and rural areas,” she said.
“Nonetheless, we have to try and resolve this issue.”
Smith Fullerton said she empathizes with those who have expressed concern about the process being used to site wind turbines based on her own experience as a community and environmental activist.
She said she would prefer a process that respects the principles of the Planning Act and emphasizes the role of local government and citizens in the process.
Smith Fullerton is leading opposition to a proposed gravel pit along the Thames River, which if approved, “Would threaten land along the river and forever change the lives of my neighbours and their families, many of whom have lived in my rural community for generations.”
To create workable solutions for the wind turbines and consider other alternative energy sources like bio-mass fuels, the advisory committee will work with her and members of her campaign team.
Smith Fullerton said the NDP “support the use of alternative energy sources as a means to wean us off dependence upon a hydro carbon based economy.”
However, she said she is aware “the Conservatives are advocating either a moratorium or complete cancellation of industrial wind turbines, depending on who you listen to, which has played well for them politically in rural Ontario.
“But remember, the Liberals have signed contractual agreements with private companies and I do not want to go down the same disastrous path that we have gone down with the $1-billion gas plant fiasco without looking at the implications of all alternatives.”
To join the committee contact campaign manager Rick Huband at 519-271-4466.
