Raise the Hammer

Isn't a waste-to-energy plant being planned somewhere around there? So, how many jobs will that create? (tongue in cheek). But don't worry, I hear they're using modern technology so magical, that a waste incinerator can be placed downtown :/

To answer your question about the gas plants : initially they were proposed for a good reason. McGuinty shut down a coal power plant. The plan was to replace it with two gas plants. However the residents still had concerns over air quality. They prefered to locate it well away from population, and transmit the power. I recall other issues were cited as well - safety concerns over proximity to residents. But increasing emissions in GTA airshed seems to have been the main one. The last couple of summers we have had a bit of a break, but around then, we were getting some really sick smog days. The residents were so opposed, that they brought in Erin Brockovich to help articulate the opposition. All three governments recognized this and made statements acknowledging how strongly people felt. The libs were split in their own party. Finally caved to pressure and proceeded with cancellation. Another factor was the Green Energy initiatives that started in 2009; some residents were encouraging an alternative solution altogether.

TLDR: Oakville and Mississauga got so sick of smog, they fought hard enough to get new gas plants relocated away from population.

So the scandal seems to stem from McGuinty initiating the gas plants as a coal substitute (good) and then changing the project in response to public petition (also good). But sometimes a govt can do the right thing (always in the eye of the beholder I guess) and still damned if they do and damned if they don't. Just look at discussions on this or any other website as an indicator of that.

Whether there was favoritism, nepotism, embezzlement, I don't know. Perhaps. Many in office do it, which is why transparency is good. I mean, if Ford can roll joints in his office while bringing buddies over to show off to, of course it's going to happen. Wynne did publicly apologize for her predecessor's handling of it, so likely some aspect of it wasn't handled right. But the opposition latching onto this as a scandal was so desperate and dishonest, in a "doth protest too much" way, that opposition parties didn't weaken my desire to vote Lib, they weakened my desire to vote for them. All three of the parties would have cancelled the plants due to extreme local pressure to do so.

Comment edited by mikeonthemountain on 2014-06-15 07:20:01