It's time for the McGuinty Government to do the right thing and pull the plug on the proposed gas plant for King Township

NEWS
Minister of Energy Brad Duguid admitted yesterday that the government’s demand projections were overly dramatic and conservation was grossly underestimated.

The Ministry of Energy is admitting publicly that there is so much power available in Southwestern Ontario that a 900 MW generation plant can be stopped with no impact on our energy supply. With a new understanding of the real power situation, why would a tiny peaker plant in King Township be necessary? The proposed peaker plant in the Holland Marsh sacrifices hard-fought for provincial environmental legislation for a now questionable demand.

The site in King Township fails to meet the original, mandatory, requirement for “islanding”. This means it does not meet the York Region public need for system reliability and redundancy as there is no back-up capability in emergencies. Following a thorough review, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario stated that the Holland Marsh peaker plant did not meet environmental standards and that the environmental assessment process is flawed.

Residents have an application before the courts for a Judicial Review of the process and procedures and have recently petitioned the courts to assign a judge to prevent further delay tactics by the Ontario Government. Oakville paid to bring in a celebrity activist and the Liberal Government folded. Is this what it takes for communities in Ontario to be noticed?

Surely the legislation and judicial process of our province should be the authority for making decisions that affect our communities.

QUOTES
“The gas plant in King Township makes no sense. The Liberal’s energy plan is in shambles and needs a major rethink before destroying protected farmland for an ill-conceived gas generator that is not needed.”
– Mike Schreiner, Leader, GPO

“It’s time for the Liberals to listen to the legitimate and valid concerns of citizens and put a stop to the ill-conceived and unnecessary gas plant in King Township.”
-Mike Schreiner, Leader, GPO

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CONTACT:
Jaymini Bhikha
416-275-8573
jbhikha@gpo.ca