Dear editor,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my opinion on the issue of wind farms, not only in Dufferin County, but as it affects the entire province of Ontario.

Wind energy is a farce.  Wind energy is not a reliable source.  It is not able to generate enough power at a consistent rate for people to power their homes.  In other words, if there is no wind, there is no electricity in your home.

The second issue is the cost of wind farms.  The cost to produce wind energy is more than it is worth.

It costs more than $0.16 per kilowatt/hour for wind.  Currently, we pay approximately $0.09 per kilowatt/hour for hydro for our homes, therefore, tax payers are picking up the tab for the difference. The county of Dufferin would like to shut down the production of wind farms.

The third issue is that…

An Energy Minister who boasts that his decision is supported by Greenpeace is an Energy Minister spectacularly out-of-touch with ordinary voters.

I live in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. Our Energy Minister is a gent named Bob Chiarelli.

From my perspective, his primary responsibility is to keep energy prices as low as possible. As Germany and other jurisdictions have discovered, when electricity costs too much, businesses flee – taking jobs with them (see here, here, here and here).

Working families, young people near the bottom of the wage ladder, and seniors on fixed incomes all have especially tight budgets. The more these people are forced to pay for electricity, the fewer dollars they have to spend on other things. Like food.

In recent years, electricity prices here in Ontario have risen dramatically. This is largely the result of our government pursuing renewable energy policies without doing…