Category Archives: Bob Bailey
Liberals, NDP ignore wind turbine concerns
Petrolia Topic
A local contingent of municipal leaders and residents of Sarnia-Lambton watched at Queen’s Park in Toronto on April 18 as Liberal and NDP members of the Ontario legislature voted to continue the march of industrial wind turbines across rural Ontario. The Ensuring Affordable Energy Act, a bill presented by Ontario PC MPP Lisa Thompson, was debated in the legislature before the Liberal and NDP members teamed up to kill the act and its central purpose of returning decision making authority for industrial wind turbine developments to local municipalities.
The Act was drafted in response to a groundswell of criticism the Liberal and NDP parties have received since they passed and implemented the Green Energy Act (GEA) in 2009. Several municipal leaders, including Enniskillen Township Mayor Kevin Marriott, joined in a full day of efforts to persuade members of the Liberals and NDP to amend the controversial GEA by voting in support of the solutions presented in Thompson’s bill. Read article
Wind turbine petition heading to Queen’s Park from Plympton-Wyoming
Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer
Anti-wind farm activists in Plympton-Wyoming say they plan to deliver a petition with more than 2,500 signatures Friday to Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey. The group, We’re Against Industrial Turbines in Plympton-Wyoming (WAIT-PW), has been circulating the petition since forming to oppose Suncor Energy Products’ plan to build up to 46-turbines across a wide stretch of rural northern Lambton County.
The petition calls for wind turbine development to stop “until citizens are property consulted and informed, and the local government processes respected.” Members of WAIT-PW group plan to meet up with Bailey, a member of Ontario’s PC opposition, at 4:30 p.m. outside the municipal office on Niagara Street in Wyoming. “I intend to take those petitions and present them in the House to the minister of energy and formally let him know what the people of Plympton-Wyoming, and the surrounding area, think of their wind turbine program,” Bailey said. Read article
Tory MPP says high electricity costs kill job creation
Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer
A wind energy association is disputing Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey’s claim wind energy isn’t affordable. Bailey and Ontario’s PCs have said they will cancel the Feed in Tariff program the Liberal government has used to attract wind and other renewable energy projects to the province. “We want to return electricity generation and power generation in Ontario to be a job producer, and not a social policy to try and get people to support wind turbine-generated electricity,” Bailey said.
The Tories point to the Feed in Tariff program, and the province’s Global Adjustment charge, as causing rising electricity prices the party says harm Ontario’s manufacturing sector. “We see industry, already, taking another look at where they’re going to locate,” Bailey said. “We’ve lost a lot of industry to Quebec and our neighbours.”
Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said comments by Bailey and the PC’s “perpetuate the myth that wind and renewable energy is the driving force behind electricity prices increases in the province.” Read article
MPP waiting for proof of Liberals intention to change
Heather Wright, Sarnia Lambton Independent
[excerpt] But he [Bob Bailey] says details of how much say communities will have in wind energy projects may come sooner. The Rural Ontario Municipal Association meets next week in Mississauga and many Ontario cabinet ministers will be there. “I would expect to see the details there because it those are the people they have to convince,” says Bailey adding the province has made similar statements before the legislature prorogued without giving details. “We’re not convinced they’re going to do anything…We’re not going to take them at their word because they haven’t done it yet.”
Bailey was also disappointed that the Premier – who named herself Agriculture Minister saying she was committed to helping rural Ontario – only used the word agriculture once while writing the speech. “It is such a big and important part of the Ontario economy; it is a lot larger than the auto sector…it contributes $15billion to Ontario’s economy… you’d think there would be more than one mention in the throne speech.” Read article
Political leaders seek moratorium on wind turbines
Sarnia Observer
The Conservative MP and MPP for Sarnia-Lambton are calling for a moratorium on new wind farms in Ontario.
Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey and MP Patricia Davidson teamed up Thursday to urge the Liberal government at Queen’s Park to halt new wind energy projects while Health Canada studies the relationship between wind turbine noise and human health.
The move comes just days after the MP and MPP in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex made the same moratorium request.
The federal health study, announced last week, is expected to report its results in 2014.
“We know that there’s a tremendous amount of concern in the community,” Davidson said.
That’s why MPs in southwestern and eastern Ontario pushed Health Canada for a study, she said.
“In the meantime, I think that it makes perfect sense for all of us to just sit back and wait and see what the results are.” Read the rest of this entry
Support the moratorium on wind turbines
Sarnia Observer – Letters
Sir: I am writing to join with Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex PC) and Bev Shipley (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex CPC) Bob Bailey (Sarnia-Lambton) along with Tim Hudak in their call for a moratorium on the continued development of wind turbines in our area, at least until the Health Canada research study is completed in 2014.
Those of us who live and work in the area of development are working hard out here in rural Ontario, to get the message to Premier McGuinty that there is massive opposition to all wind turbines that have already been put up as well as those which are in the development stage. Information is the key to our opposition, because it seems that as more and more information on the costs and the health effects are disclosed to the constituents in Ontario, the more the opposition grows against green energy.
The Green Energy Act which the government enacted, is in direct contradiction to my rights as a citizen of Canada. The act takes away the ability of our local municipal politicians to act on behalf of their constituents. Even though the Liberals were re-elected in the last election, it was by a thin majority and without any support from rural Ontario. They will have to run again in the future, and I for one will be getting out of my chair and working hard to make sure that they are not re-elected again. I can only hope that the damage that they are doing to our landscape out here in rural Ontario is not too far gone before that happens.
Karen Warner
Sarnia
Wind Turbine Town Hall
Fedeli On Green Energy
March 13th, 2012 . Blackburn News
Tim Hudak’s energy critic says the Green Energy Act is pitting neighbour against neighbour.
Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli spoke at a town hall meeting in Strathroy last night, where he says at least 250 people shared their thoughts for and against wind farms. “The health concerns came up. We have issues where it pits friend against friend, farmer against farmer, family against family, in terms of ‘I need the cash from the wind turbine’ versus ‘don’t put that next to me.’”
Fedeli says at tonight’s town hall in Blenheim, he’ll talk about how soaring energy costs caused by the Green Energy Act are behind the province’s high unemployment rate.
The meeting gets underway at 7 pm at Deer Run Golf Course.
Story by Dave Richie, Blackburn News.
Wind Turbine Town Hall
Strathroy MyFM
The focus and the message was as strong as wind blowing on a wind turbine, but last night at Amy’s Restaurant a jammed packed crowd of well over 200 filed in to listen and have their opinions heard on the issue of wind turbine and solar power. It was a town hall meeting hosted by Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton and the message was clear. To listen to constituents and take the message forward.
A wide variety of speakers addressed the crowd including farm residents, to wind action group members to people concerned that their health problems had to do with these turbines. The dignitary head table was comprised of McNaughton, PC Energy Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, and Chatham-Kent MPP Rick Nicholls
Monte McNaughton to host Wind Turbine Townhall in Strathroy
Be sure to mark on your calendar and tell your friends, neighbours and family to attend:
MPP Wind Turbine Townhall in Strathroy
Date: March 12th, 2012
Time: 7:00-9:00 PM
Place: Amy’s Place: 28537 Centre Road, Strathroy (@ MulifarryDr. & CentreRd)
MPP Vic Fedeli (PC Critic for Energy) and MPP Bob Bailey (Sarnia-Lambton) have both confirmed that they also plan to attend. To schedule your presentation or for more information, please contact Eileen McCoy at the office of MPP Monte McNaughton.
Tel: 519-245-8696 • Fax: 519-245-8697 Email: eileen.mccoy@pc.ola.org
Bob Bailey: McGuinty, get off your high horse
Sarnia & Lambton County THIS WEEK
Queen’s Park Report with MPP Bob Bailey
Better Late Then Never: OFA Calls for Wind Farm Moratorium
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), the largest representative of farm interests in Canada, is calling on the provincial government to immediately stop installing industrial wind turbines (IWT) in rural Ontario.
Since the passage of the 2009 Green Energy Act, which stripped municipalities of local planning rights, countless communities across rural Ontario have been threatened by the McGuinty government’s push to install industrial wind farms, with no regard to local expertise or the concerns of residents. These IWT developments have done more to turn neighbours and communities against one another than solve any of the problems of energy production in Ontario.
In its call for the moratorium, the OFA cites the high cost of power produced by turbines, its inability to be stored, and the fact that it can’t be effectively transmitted to areas of high demand as just some of the reasons to stop the senseless expansion of IWTs across rural Southwestern Ontario. But far and away the most troubling outcome of IWTs in our rural communities is this issue’s tendency to divide and polarize long time friends and neighbours. These concerns over health impacts, negatively affected property values and quality of life issues are not being seriously considered by the McGuinty government. These issues weigh heavily on the minds of many rural residents and are causing serious problems in our rural communities. In his statement, OFA President Mark Wales says that these projects have “alienated the rural population” as “neighbours are pitted against neighbours.”
Last April, in the Legislature, I demanded that Premier McGuinty get off his high horse and explain why his government is choosing to ignore the voices and concerns of rural Ontario communities by jamming through his unproven and unwanted wind farms. Countless communities across our province have watched helplessly as the McGuinty Government pushes to install more industrial wind farms whenever and wherever he wants, with no regard to local expertise or the concerns of residents. It is my hope that more organizations, like the OFA, will take a stand and let Premier McGuinty know that it is local residents that know best when it comes to making decisions regarding their communities.
2012 Pre-Budget Consultations
Along with neighbouring Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton, I will be hosting pre-budget consultations regarding the 2012 Provincial Budget later this month. MPP McNaughton and I saw the need to schedule these meetings after the decision by the McGuinty Government to host “virtual town halls” using “modern technology” rather than the traditional in-person public hearings held annually across the province. Read the rest of this entry
MLWAG 