Columnists
The monumental charm offensive
Did you see that photograph of the big gold statue of Chairman Mao erected in rural China? Here one minute; but gone the next, after the public reaction to it was less than fulsome. And then there’s the news that the proposed Mother Canada monument planned for Cape Breton Highlands National Park is being reevaluated. And the news that the proposed monument to the victims of communism has been shifted off centre stage in the nation’s capital. All in all, there seems to be an opening out there in monument land. Which got me to thinking about wind turbines.
Before you groan and put the paper away— hey, I could be writing about water rates—let me say that I have just one simple idea to put across, and then I’ll shut up. I should also declare my personal view that to make a massive investment in turbines in the County doesn’t make much sense. But it also doesn’t make much sense to have a continually escalating war between the forces of ‘conservation’ and the forces of ‘green energy.’ Yet this war is escalating. The latest court application, challenging the issuance of a renewable energy permit to the White Pines project, is a frontal assault on the Green Energy Act. And who’s to say what decisions the Gilead and White Pines environmental review tribunals will make, and whether those decisions will end up in court.
My suggestion, to get right to it, is that an initiative on a different front be added. Call it a charm offensive—a monumental charm offensive. Let’s honour those who are intent on bringing wind turbines to the County—by erecting a monument to them.
The suggestion has a sort of reverse psychological premise. If there is one thing that politicians like, it is to be remembered as bold, decisive visionaries who took controversial stands, but who were proved by history to have been right. On the other hand, if there is one thing they don’t like, it is to be remembered as bold, decisive visionaries who took controversial stands, but who were, nonetheless, proved by history to have been bone-headedly wrong. So let’s erect a monument to Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne, now, so that history will not have to look very hard or very far to know which side our political leaders took. At the very least, it might make them squirm a little and ask themselves whether the imposition of turbines on an unwilling host population, with all their economic, technological and environmental drawbacks, is the decision they want to be remembered for.
Every monument has to have a theme, a location and a plaque to explain it to the public. As to the monument’s theme, we would of course appoint a blue-ribbon committee and entertain design suggestions from a host of people. It could be a statue—say of two figures with their heads in the clouds and feet of clay. It could be a conceptual piece—like a massive boot squashing a hapless Blanding’s turtle. It could be whimsical—perhaps a razor-edged whirligig. However appropriate it might otherwise be, a big gold statue in the style of the hastily removed tribute to Chairman Mao would be too derivative to make the cut. Nor does a tribute to the victims of liberalism do liberalism any justice. A statue of our heroes cast as Ma and Pa Ontario might have some sort of resonance.
The monument’s location would have to be selected based on where the most people would see it. Perhaps near the entrance to Sandbanks Provincial Park or across Picton Main Street from Sir John A. might work. (I wouldn’t count on being able to use provincial land.)
As far as the plaque is concerned, I envision it would say something along the lines of: This monument honours two stalwart people. Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty was convinced of the rightness of his vision to make Ontario a renewable energy powerhouse, regardless of the cost; and enacted a statute called the Green Energy Act to ensure that nobody who opposed the erection of renewable energy projects on his government’s terms could allow the dream to die. His successor, Kathleen Wynne, saw to it that his dream did not die, even though a fainter heart and a more malleable mind might have caused her to re-examine the assumptions upon which the Green Energy Act was based. The turbines erected here in the County are their legacy.
When the monument is ready for unveiling, we would have to invite the two subjects to a slap-up dinner, appropriately themed, of course. How about turkey with all the trimmings and a save-your-fork-for-two-kindsof- pie dessert, start with a mock turtle soup and end with Turtles chocolates and coffee? I doubt that the invitations would be accepted, but at the same time, I don’t think people here in the County would take monumental offence. So long as the monument went up in any event.
Comments (0)