Tag Archives: Pierre Poilievre

Ottawa Wind Concerns chair awarded Jubilee medal

23 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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Member of Parliament for Nepean-Carleton Pierre Poilievre gave Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals to four community members  last evening. The MP said that too often, politics and media concentrate on urban life when he said, the rural communities are in many ways the backbone of Canada.

One of the awards went to Ottawa Wind Concerns chair Jane Wilson, who is also the president of Wind Concerns Ontario.

Mr Poilievre said in specific that the award was to acknowledge advocacy work to protect the health and safety of people living near industrial-scale wind power projects.

Several months ago, Mr Poilievre launched a petition to be taken to the House of Commons to ask for a halt to the Ottawa wind power project based in North Gower-Richmond, to wait until the results of health impact studies are available. (The petition is still availble for signing–contact us, or drop into the MP’s office at 250 Greenbank.)

He also commissioned an economic review of the project by the Library of Parliament, which found that the cost to taxpayers in Ontario for the power project would be $4.8 million, per year.

We are going to fight ON. And ON. It is not fair that an entire community should be affected by the decision of a few landowners to put profits before their community.

To donate–we need funds for ongoing legal advice–please send a cheque to PO Box 3 North Gower ON   K0A 2T0. To have your name added to our (confidential) email list, email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

What kind of person…?

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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We’re not sure who “Andy Braid” of Kars is, nor do we get why Mr Braid seems to have letters published with regularity in The Manotick Messenger (3 weeks in a row, by our count) but at least our response to his recent letter about the wind power project was published, yesterday.

Here is the letter.

Mr Braid claims that MP Pierre Poilievre hasn’t got his facts straight in asking for a moratorium on the proposed wind power project for our community. It is Mr. Braid who is in error.

Ontario uses coal power for less than three percent of its electricity needs, and could shut them off altogether for seven months of the year when they are not needed for spikes in demand due to hot weather. The truth is, Ontario’s pollution comes from cars and trucks, and from industry south of the border.

Most worrying, however, is his objection to Health Canada spending time studying the noise problem. What kind of person does not want more information on a public health issue, and is in fact willing to sacrifice the health of his neighbours in North Gower, Richmond and Manotick?

Wind power has not been proven to reduce greenhouse gases anywhere in the world.

Jane Wilson

Ottawa Wind Concerns

Mr Braid’s comments, it might also be noted, come right out of the wind power developers’ lobby group playbook. They don’t want Health Canada to study the turbine noise and infrasound. If the study is done right–and many are commenting on the current proposed study design (it has flaws) to improve it–it will show that there are questions about setbacks and nighttime noise.

Ontario could end up with 2-km setbacks (minimum in the view of the World Health organization and the Society for Wind Vigilance) and perhaps also having the turbines turned off at night, as they are now doing in some areas of France. That means less profit in the form of taxpayer subsidy for the big companies.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and donate to PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0

MP Poilievre commissions Library of Parliament research: what wind power costs YOU

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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A news release from Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre today, see below. This pertains to the 20-MW proposed project in North Gower. Savings of the “cost premium” amounts to $3-4.8 million per year–this is in line with the $500,000 per turbine, estimated as a subsidy for turbines by Wind Concerns Ontario.

Now remember, Mr McGuinty wants to have 10,700 MW of wind power running in Ontario. You do the math.

Pierre Poilievre, M.P., Nepean-Carleton

News Release

Contact: Austin Jean

T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

August 17, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marlborough Moratorium Makes Cents

North Gower, ON — Nepean-Carleton MP, Pierre Poilievre, released information from the Library of Parliament confirming that a moratorium on the Marlborough Wind Turbine Project could result in an annual savings of up to $4.8 million on Ontarians’ energy bills. Due to its unreliability and set-up costs, wind-generated power in Ontario is far more expensive than alternatives like conservation efforts or refurbished nuclear plants. Poilievre has been calling for a moratorium, while Health Canada (a federal department) conducts a study into the safety of wind turbine noise.

The Marlborough project proposed for the outskirts of North Gower is expected to produce approximately 60 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, at a cost of 13.5 cents/kWh, a price the Ontario government has guaranteed for 20 years.  In comparison, the Ontario Power Authority purchases electricity generated from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants at a cost of 6 to 9 cents/kWh.  A moratorium on this industrial wind turbine project would allow the Power Authority to purchase the same electricity at roughly half the price from these cheaper energy sources while Health Canada conducts its study.

“The planned industrial turbines near North Gower should be put on hold until the results of Health Canada’s federal study are published,” said Poilievre. “Not only would this ensure the safety of these residents, but it would save money for the power system and its consumers.”

In 2011, wind-generated energy accounted for an average of 2.7% of the total power grid in Ontario, costing taxpayers $519.5 million. The same amount of energy from natural gas generation plants would have cost $96.2 million less.

For further information, please contact:

Austin Jean
Office Manager

Pierre Poilievre, M.P. Nepean-Carleton
T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

See the note from the Library of Parliament, HERE

Library of Parliament research[1]

Please see the petition under Important Documents. If you are copying it, it MUST have both pages on a single piece of paper to be legal.

Citizen writer owes us all an apology

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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August 17, 2012

Yesterday, writer Kate Heartfield, who claims to live in the south Ottawa area near to the proposed wind power generation project, published an opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen that she thought was a colossal joke. Doing absolutely no research herself on the whole issue of wind power generation, she took aim at Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre for what she felt was inadequate references for the petition he circulated to constitutents last week.

(The petition states that there is evidence for health effects from wind turbine noise and vibration and that Health Canada is now doing a study; Premier McGuinty of Ontario ought to halt approvals on the North Gower-Richmond project until results of the study are in. For a copy of the petition, please see our documents tab.)

She also claimed that the group of international scientists working on this issue were “amusingly” named the Society for Wind Vigilance  ( a five-minute read would have revealed what an important group of scientists and health care professionals that is), she denigrated well-known and peer-reviewed independent health researcher and former health policy analyst and editor Carmen Krogh as “a retired pharmacist” and finally, claimed that for 20% of the population to have health effects from wind turbine noises was neither here nor there.

If you are a regular reader of these pages and our former blog the North Gower Wind Action Group blog, you’ll know what a puff piece Heartfield’s article was–there is plenty of evidence to show that there are health problems, and that research needs to be done to develop policy for health and safety because, clearly, Ontario’s 550-meter setback based on noise modelling (not reality) is not safe.

Our final comment is, Since when is a health issue the basis for humour? We note that it took just nine complaints about Jeeps in the U.S. to result in a recall of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Now you have hundreds of noise complaints in Ontario, and yet the government still approves these projects? How many people have to become ill before it is too much? And before people like Kate Heartfield can take seriously the damage that is being done?

We are grateful for the continuing support of MPP Lisa MacLeod and MP Pierre Poilievre. Thanks too to all those who wrote in and congratulations to writers Mike Baggott, Judi Atkinson, Francesco Macri, and Henri Garand, for having been published in the Ottawa Citizen today.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

MP Pierre Poilievre releases petition vs North Gower wind project

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilivre has prepared a petition for everyone concerned about the health impacts from the proposed North Gower wind project. The signed petitions, which asks that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty not approve the project until the results of a Health Canada study are released and evaluated, will be taken to the House of Commons.

Here is an excerpt from the news release from Mr Poilievre’s office.

Poilievre launches petition to stop local wind turbine project

Nepean, ON

—Pierre Poilievre, Member of Parliament for Nepean-Carleton, announced that he has started a petition calling on Premier Dalton McGuinty to put the safety of North Gower residents first. The petition asks for a halt to the construction of industrial wind turbines in the community until the Federal Health Canada study can determine whether or not they are safe. This follows his open letter to Premier McGuinty and his public call for a moratorium several weeks ago.

“Since my public call for a moratorium on the wind turbine project proposed for North Gower, many of my constituents have been contacting me to voice their support,” said Poilievre. “The Premier and his Ministers of Health and Environment have both agreed to consider my request and I think that a petition will show them just how much support that a moratorium would have from the general population.”

Last week, the petition was mailed to thousands of households in the village of North Gower and the surrounding areas. Poilievre is also inviting anyone wishing to sign the petition to drop by his constituency office at 250B Greenbank Road, located just north of West Hunt Club Rd.

The Marlborough Wind Farm, initiated in 2008 by Prowind Canada, proposes 10 IWTs in close proximity to the village of North Gower and Poilievre believes that the majority of the villagers will be supportive of this call for a moratorium. There is too much information that is unclear when it comes to the potential health effects caused by noise pollution from industrial wind turbines.

In several locations across Ontario, noise from turbines has caused residents who live close to them to report serious health problems, including sleeping disorders, anxiety drugs and vertigo. Even Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer has admitted that the government does not have enough data on turbine noise and its health consequences.

….

We support this 100 % and ask that everyone sign the petition, and have their friends, neighbours and other concerned individuals sign it. The petitions may be sent to the MP postage-free.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

Get the petition HERE: Wind Farm – petition

Ottawa resident alleges fossil fuel industry ties

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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In the August 8th edition of The Manotick Messenger, Kars resident Andy Braid has a letter complaining about the paper’s coverage of the joint news conference held by Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod and MP Pierre Poilievre, calling for a moratorium on wind power project approvals until a proposed Health Canada study is done.

While complaining that citizens are “brainwashed” and practically calling CFRA listeners mouthbreathers, Braid actually claims that community groups opposed to industrial wind power projects are associated with the fossil fuel industry.

Alleging that a community group is “friends of the fossil fuel industry” Braid says:”It’s nothing short of surreal to watch the remarkably well-funded Wind Concerns Ontario whipping up paranoia amongst rural residents about the possible health implications of living too close to a propeller on a stick, all the while completely ignoring the proliferation of cellphone towers that are microwaving their children on a daily basis.”

We will not entertain Mr Braid’s fantasies further but simply use this letter as an example of how successful the huge wind power generation lobby group — worldwide –has been in marketing its utterly useless product.

Facts:

  • There is no evidence anywhere that wind power projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Wind power actually requires back-up from traditional power sources, which is why Ontario is trying to build new natural gas plants. (Except the voters in key ridings don’t want them.)
  • The environmental noise and infrasound does cause health effects–that has been proven.
  • The fact that health problems may result from other sorts of power generation and–perhaps–cellphone towers is NO EXCUSE to inflict giant power generating machines on communities.

Mr Braid might be interested to know, however, that the reality of the proposed project for the North Gower and Richmond areas of Ottawa is that the proponents originally intended the project to go all the way over to Osgoode. In other words, through Kars. So, Mr Braid may have to read a little more widely and open his mind more, when he himself is faced with a giant, noise and vibration-producing, property value destroying “propeller” next door.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and follow us on Twitter at northgowerwind

We are a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario; for more news daily, visit http://www.windconcernsontario.ca