Mayor Quaiff says Premier is discriminating against rural Ontario

On July 23 Mayor Robert Quaiff wrote to Premier Kathleen Wynne seeking a meeting over her government’s decision to approve an industrial wind energy development known as White Pines, comprised of 27 turbines in South Marysburgh. In his letter Mayor Quaiff said he was “incredibly upset and discouraged” that questions raised by residents and the municipality had not been adequately addressed prior to the approval of the project. Further a decision about the fate of a nearby industrial wind development at Ostrander was subject of a court-ordered review. Quaiff said it was inappropriate that the Ministry of Environment approve the White Pines project before the issues at Ostrander Point had been adjudicated.

Environment minister Glen Murray wrote back to Mayor Quaiff on July 31 to say neither he nor the mayor would meet with him. He said the mayor could appeal the project to an Environmental Review Tribunal.

On August 5 Mayor Quaiff responded with a blistering letter accusing the Premier and her government of discriminating against rural Ontario and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. He added that “it strains credulity to be informed not by the Premier herself but by her aide that she refuses to meet with the Mayor of an Ontario Municipality”

He again pleaded with the Premier to impose a moratorium on wind development, “until the Green Energy Act is revisited, democracy is restored, and municipalities are again permitted to decide for themselves whether or not to host these devastating projects which so greatly impact our economic health.”

Read the full letter here.