Crossing the line

It was a ham-handed stunt. Despite the seriousness claimed by the two actors behind this shameful bit of Shire Hall theatre—it was nothing more than a clumsy and cynical attempt by Brian Marisett and Jamie Forrester to thumb their noses at fellow councillors on an issue upon which they feel increasingly alone and isolated. In doing so they managed to smear the institution they were elected to serve and uphold. They surely inflicted much more damage, however, to their own standing among their peers and constituents.

County council has come late in its support of the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists and the protection of the natural wonders that abound in this place. Some feared being drawn into a protracted legal battle. Others weren’t certain how County residents felt about wind and solar energy development in their midst.

But when PECFN pulled out its surprising victory from the province’s own specially created appeal process, council had a horse it could back. After all PECFN doesn’t reject renewable energy out of hand—just not here. Not 50- storey spinning turbines in the flyway of one of the most significant bird migration paths in North America. And certainly not, if it means uprooting and destroying the habitat of endangered species.

A committee of council decided last month it would kick in $20,000 to help PECFN offset its legal bills—which so far tallies $125,000. The Ministry of Environment and the developer have appealed the province’s Environmental Tribunal decision to a divisional court, so PECFN’s legal costs will surely rise.

In its August 15 committee meeting, three councillors voted against the assistance: Marisett, Barry Turpin and Nick Nowitski. Forrester was absent. Marisett said he was “protecting the taxpayer.”

But when it came time for Council to ratify the contribution, Marisett’s interest in the taxpayer seemingly evaporated—instead he and Forrester proposed upping the pledge ten-fold to $200,000. It was not a sincere desire to “give them the tools to do the job” as Marisett claimed, but rather an awkward ploy to call out fellow colleagues, many of whom Marisett and Forrester suspect of pandering to shifting public opinion.

The two councillors belong to a shrinking group of folks who believe Ontario’s Green Energy Act is an appropriate response to the challenge of climate change. They choose not to question whether forking over truckloads of money and forsaking our natural treasure to profit-driven developers is a prudent, or indeed rational, way to fix the problem. Instead they have made it an ideological fight. Like fundamentalists, they have chosen to draw a hard line between the believers and the heretics.

That was their goal last week—to force fellow councillors out into the open. There are no shades of gray in this issue for these councillors. No nuance. No allowance for shifting and sometimes contradictory positions. You are in, or you are out.

Fundamentalists fear knowledge. They fear enlightenment.

In fact, more and more people every day are discovering what Ontario’s energy policies have done to this province—how they have so utterly damaged our manufacturing competitiveness and driven our consumer bills needlessly higher. They see that the promise of green jobs was a mirage. They see the destruction of wildlife habitat in exchange for the industrialization of pastoral Ontario. And, worse, they see that despite all that we have given up, intermittent wind and solar energy contribute a near meaningless amount of electricity to the province’s needs.

Views on wind and solar development are shifting across the province. It is neither shocking nor overtly populist for council’s views to shift as well. But for Marisett and Forrester these shifting, and more nuanced, views as reflected by council, are seen as waffling and indecisiveness. They are to be decried and attacked.

That was the aim of the stunt last week. Both representatives taunted their fellow councillors to take a harder line.

“If you believe you represent the majority of the people in Prince Edward County you should vote for this,” Forrester challenged his fellow colleagues.

Forrester observed that just 300 people have contributed to PECFN’s legal fund so far—contributing on average of just $167 each. From this he deduces PECFN lacks broad popular support in this community.

“Three hundred people don’t represent the majority,” insisted Forrester.

Members of the Field Naturalists shifted uncomfortably in the gallery pews. They knew they were being used as pawns in the councillors’ game.

Councillors Marisett and Forrester brought their chamber to a new low last week. They were disrespectful to and contemptuous of their colleagues and the very council they have sworn to serve. They were rude to the Field Naturalists, who hadn’t even asked for the support council offered.

If Marisett and Forrester continue to find the expectations, traditions and rules that govern civil and honest behaviour on council too constricting— perhaps they should consider another form of public advocacy.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca