Democracy is gone with the wind
April 15, 2013 | countylive.caApril 15, 2013 | countylive.ca
Ontario’s rural/urban divide about industrial wind turbines has not yet become Civil War, but “Gone with the Wind” comes to mind, as the wind-worshipping Ontario government continues to withhold democracy from a large segment of our population. Citizens on both sides of the escalating wind energy war passionately believe they are in the right.
Recent Ontario-wide uprisings against our Toronto-based government’s coalition with the Wind Industry remind me of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion against the Toronto-based Family Compact. All sought democracy. Unlike William Lyon Mackenzie’s rural reformers of 1837, today’s rural rebels have not yet taken extreme measures; so far their battles have been peaceful demonstrations, media debates, and court challenges…still seeking democracy and increasingly willing to fight.
Meanwhile Ontario’s government keeps on robbing its rural citizens of not only democracy, but also tranquil sleep, healthy home sites, safe wildlife habitat, pastoral landscapes, future tourism revenues, life savings invested in home values, and affordable electricity.
Until recently, most rural Ontarians did not fully realize the extent to which government-supported wind energy developers are expropriating their property rights. But now they know.
In Gone With the Wind Rhett Butler’s final words to Scarlett O’Hara were “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Today most rural Ontarians do give a damn. Their democracy is “gone with the wind”. To support legal actions against wind factories too close to home sites and wildlife areas, concerned residents of Prince Edward County are now clicking on a DONATE link at www.ccsage.wordpress.com. They are planning to join their neighbours at a Town Hall meeting at Picton’s Regent Theatre on April 25 at 6:30 PM, where they will keep trying to find a peaceful way to prevent industrial wind turbines from destroying tranquil and healthy neighbourhoods. Doors will open at 6p.m.
Jim McPherson, Milford
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/15/democracy-is-gone-with-the-wind/