Provincial finance minister Dwight Duncan faced opposition criticism last week over the Liberal party’s decision, just days before the last provincial election, to cancel construction of a gas plant then underway in Mississauga.
Duncan appeared before the all-party Standing Committee on Estimates on July 19 and faced questions from Conservative Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece and other opposition members.
Pettapiece wanted to know why the government would listen to the people of Mississauga on large-scale energy projects, while ignoring similar concerns in rural and small-town Ontario.
“Your government made the decision to move (the gas plant) and made that campaign promise in September. Did you poll the residents of Mississauga about whether they wanted it there?” Pettapiece asked.
The minister replied that he had not conducted a poll, but said, “It was in Newspapers. We did meet with the mayors. We meet with local mayors… I heard from our local members. I read the Newspapers. I watched the News.”
Yet, under the Green Energy Act, the government stripped planning authority from municipalities – of which rural municipalities are most affected – when it comes to wind turbines, states a July 20 press release from Pettapiece’ office.
Pettapiece informed the minister of a survey by Elma-Mornington Concerned Citizens, a community group in North Perth, which found that 96 percent of residents affected by the Invenergy turbine proposal are opposed to the project.
“Will you listen to them, sir?” asked Pettapiece.
“Every circumstance is different. We have an important policy,” Duncan responded.
Pettapiece asked the minister why he would tolerate “NIMBYism,” in Mississauga, but won’t listen to rural Ontario when it comes to industrial wind farms.
Recently the government revealed its decision to cancel the Mississauga plant would cost taxpayers $180 million – only to revise that number to $190 million. Duncan admitted the decision to cancel the plant came from the Liberal campaign team, and that cabinet did not discuss the idea until after the election.
