Niagara Regional Council – September 19, 2013 – Anita Thornton

After a  few hours of uncertainty, the council chambers erupted into  jubilant celebration and angry accusation.  With a vote of 16 Yeas and 11 Nays Tom Rankin and the NRWC lost their attempt to rescind Councils decision to support Wainfleet and West Lincolns “Not a  Willing Host” designation.

Shellie Correia opened her presentation with a rebuttal to Mr. Rankin’s previous council speech. Her points included how the Niagara Region was already the Green Capital of Canada due to the fact that Niagara Falls is the “cheapest and greenest” energy of all while expressing how water spill is occurring to displace the un-needed wind energy being produced in Ontario.  She also expressed how in Germany there are over 700 anti-wind groups, while hundreds more are across Europe.

Marianne Kidd, from Mothers Against Wind Turbines, focused her presentation on “Why Wind is a BAD deal for the Niagara Region”. After talking about how 8 “Skylon Tower” sized turbines would be surrounding her home if the NRWC project is approved, she went into more details regarding the Ontario Auditor General’s report and Property Value reductions.  Of importance was the fact that from 2008 -2012, Ontario Residential electricity consumers are paying almost 20% more than there were 4 years ago.

Francesco Macri, brought the Councilors attention to how Premier Kathleen Wynne’s thrown speech invited municipalities from across Ontario to declare themselves “Not a Willing Host”. He stated, “Clearly this statement also means local municipalities and their citizens have a right to declare themselves unwilling hosts for large projects that conflict with local needs and wishes. The issue raised in the Motion before you is not the viability of alternative energy, but the viability of local democracy”.

Mervin Croghan, CEO of NRWC and Randy Rahamim Spokesperson for the NRWC, presented a lack luster argument as they attempted to persuade council reminding them about all the money they have been throwing out to the Niagara Region. It was also noted that West Lincoln refused their Vibrancy Money offers.  They stated throughout the evening that this designation was perceived as Niagara Region itself not supporting Green Energy and was understating the importance of this industry in the Niagara Region.   As an example, German turbine manufacturer, Enercon, was delaying their investment to build a concrete form manufacturing plant in Port Colborne due to the perception it was not a supportive region.  Like Randi Rahamim correctly stated “perception is reality”.

The uncertainty of the outcome of the evening was a nail biter. Several council members including Zimmerman, Badawey and Mayor Sharpe of Welland were staunch supporters of Tom Rankin and his delegation.  However,as the motion was voted on Mayor Sharpe  voted “No”.He stood by his belief,”If you fail to protect the democratic rights of the citizens of West Lincoln and Wainfleet, then you will fail to protect the democratic rights of the citizens in your communities.”.It was stressed throughout the evening how many jobs would be created and how the influx of cash and investment would filter into the local economy and businesses.

Mayor April Jeffs questioned the number of jobs that would be created and argued that most of those manufacturing jobs were for a temporary interim. Croghan said that they would hire at least 100 employees as permanent positions once the project was complete.  That number seems questionable as the Erie Shore Windfarm with only 66 turbines employs only ten.

Mayor Joyner kept bringing up the elephant in the room: the 2011 auditor general report that clearly and concisely reports how the REA is not good for “Ontario”.

“No thorough and professional cost/benefit analysis had been conducted to identify potentially cleaner, more economically productive, and cost-effective alternatives to renewable energy; such as energy imports and increased conservation.” (AGO, 2011:97)

Later in the evening, after the Motion was rejected, Debbie Zimmerman from Grimsby brought forward another motion to declare the Niagara Region a Willing Host. This motion would encompass the entire Niagara Region; however the only 2 Municipalities where there were Wind Turbines proposed have declared themselves “UNWILLING”.

Are the constituents in the remaining Niagara Regional municipalities also willing have turbines in their backyard? If so, maybe the NRWC and Mr Rankin could work with those communities to move their projects there.