CAW should be ashamed
Shoreline Beacon, www.shorelinebeacon.com 22 November 2011
We own a cottage across from the CAW facility in Gobles Grove and discovered today (Nov. 10) that they plans to build 250-foot-tall wind turbine. In the past we have always been impressed with what good neighbours the CAW and its guests have been over the years. That opinion was set on its head today when we discovered – through the grapevine – that they will be building this eyesore.
As nearly as we can tell, the CAW has been planning to building a wind turbine since at least 2007. Their own newsletter, Contact, spoke with some pride in the May 11, 2007 issue (vol. 37, no. 18, www.caw.ca/en/3712.htm) about how they circumvented Saugeen Shore’s duly elected government and appealed to the largely unaccountable Ontario Municipal Board to get their way.
Is the CAW actually proud of using this tactic? This is how property developers in pursuit of their own selfish ends tend to behave. The council of the Town of Saugeen Shores was democratically elected by its citizens. Is their wisdom – the wisdom of the common man – not good enough for the Canadian Auto Workers? The CAW represents the common man until it no longer suits their purposes.
Their own Statement of Principles says the CAW is: “a union which reflects the goals of its membership, allows the members full participation”. The goals of the Town of Saugeen Shores and thus its citizens were to prevent the construction of this wind turbine. The goals of their fellow citizens are clearly not consonant with the goals of the CAW.
To be very blunt, the CAW wanted a wind turbine and the democratically elected, representative government of Saugeen Shores turned them down. So they went crying to mommy to get their way (and were actually proud of that fact!). Putting aside the aesthetic and health issues of their wind turbine, this is just not the way for Canada’s largest private-sector union to behave.
Tom and Liz Motz
Kitchener
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/24/caw-should-be-ashamed/