Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
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What price conservation?
It's not that long ago that Uxbridge Township engaged in a hot debate about the proposed erection of a couple of wind turbines on Main Street, just north of the Sandford Road.
At the time, I was opposed to the plan merely on aesthetic grounds: I didn't want our country roads to be lined with wind turbines. Others objected on health grounds, something I didn't take too seriously.
Anyone who reads my column regularly might remember that I later came out in favour of Uxbridge leading the way in establishing wind and solar energy farms. These forms of energy, I believe, can effectively and efficiently reduce the use of oil and coal and so go a long way to reduce greenhouse gases. Germany, for example, has a thriving solar energy sector and Holland has extensive wind turbine projects.
But Uxbridge council this week received a communication from an outfit called Wind Concerns Ontario, which states that 21 Ontario municipal or county councils have officially expressed their concerns over the Ontario government's Green Energy Act. These councils, apparently, are all asking the provincial government to investigate more fully the potential health effects of wind turbines on the local populace before charging ahead with plans to establish wind farms.
Wind Concerns Ontario charges that the act, among other things, takes away the people's right to object to any project proposed for their neighbourhood, strips municipalities of planning protection rights, fails to address health issues and grants government “inspectors” the right to enter premises without warrants.
Also on Monday, Steve Klose of the Environment Ministry gave council a presentation on the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. This is another piece of proposed provincial legislation which would infringe on civil and municipal rights. It would, among other things, prohibit new municipal sewage treatment plants in the watershed area, restrict the use of fertilizers on farmlands near the Lake Simcoe shore and force mandatory septic inspections on homeowners within 100 metres of the lake or a stream.
It so happens that council's agenda that day included a report from the Region of Durham on the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. The region said, among other things, that regulations which reduce municipal autonomy are undesirable. It also suggested that the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan is in conflict with the Provincial Growth Plan, in which the Ontario government sets out suggested growth rates for municipalities in and around the Golden Horseshoe. The Lake Simcoe Plan's restriction on sewage treatment plants would, in turn restrict municipal growth, particularly on the west side of the lake.
All of which tells me that, in the rush to jump on the environmental bandwagon, the province is ready to trample on the rights of citizens and the local governments that directly represent them.
I'm beginning to feel an empathy for those gun-totin' Montana nutbars who claim the “gov'mint” is out to get them. More and more, as time goes by, I see government - especially at the federal and provincial levels - intruding into my life, getting into areas where, in my opinion, they have no business.
I worry about the health of the planet, as most everyone does. But I worry more about government infringing on the rights of the people.
Tell me, am I wrong?
