Rally against Gas-fired Power Plant in Oakville/Clarkson

I got this email and want to spread the word, so I'm including it in my blog.

Have you been keeping up with the news on this power plant? Decision Day is coming soon – August 31 we are told. If you need more information, go onto the following websites –
www.cmgra.ca
www.miranet.org
www.myoakville.org

The Oakville Beaver has many interesting articles that have been written as well. I am sure you can access them online.

We don’t need this Power Plant. We should be reducing our reliance on fossil fuel, not building more plants that add to greenhouse gas emissions. The government should also be considering the fact that the air in this area (the Clarkson Airshed) is already under stress (refer to the 2006 Clarkson Airshed Study.). Any Power Plant will add another 8 tons of harmful dioxins into our air EVERY DAY.

Oakville is planning our own Rally against any Power Plant. (Mississauga had theirs at the end of June.)

If you can attend, we need every body. It will last an hour max.

Tuesday July 28th at 7pm
*Rain or Shine*
The Chisholm Centre (1484 Cornwall Road, Oakville)

Spend one of these rainy days making a sign and bring it too. Get your neighbours and family to come as well.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

Ontario's Energy Options

In Ontario we currently have the capacity to generate 29,939 MW of power. Our primary energy sources are nuclear (50%), hydroelectricity (22%), coal (16%) and natural gas (6%). The Ontario government has pledged to phase out coal-fired plants, which emit 19% of all CO2 generated in Ontario, by 2014 and has proposed replacing this source of energy with additional nuclear reactors.

If our ultimate goal is to meet the energy needs of Ontarians while optimizing our reduction of greenhouse gases, we need to determine the following:

• Which energy investment will reduce greenhouse gases at the lowest cost per tonne reduced?
• Which energy source can be brought into use most rapidly, at the lowest cost, creating the most jobs?

Using this approach, energy efficiency improvements rank first, followed closely by renewable energy sources; nuclear comes in dead last. Nuclear energy reactors take about 10 years to build. All phases of the process are extremely expensive and dirty; from uranium mining, refining and transport, to plant construction and maintenance, to nuclear waste management. And then there is the question of how long they will remain safely operational.
Pickering has permanently shut down 2 of its reactors. Two of the Bruce reactors are currently down as well. The Chalk River research reactor has been shut down indefinitely due to leaks of radioactive water, and the 2 mothballed MAPLE reactors were never fully operational.

What other options does Ontario have?

Increased energy efficiency is a very strong contender. Modern technology is making tremendous gains with respect to efficiency. Enhancing our efficiency can help us meet our energy needs. This is an essential piece of the energy mix.

The potential for geothermal energy in Ontario is staggering, especially with respect to deep-well geothermal. It is entirely renewable and is not dependant upon external factors to produce energy.

Wind is another great power source. You can always count on it being windy somewhere in Ontario, so although any one particular wind turbine may only be operating 30% of the time, wind provides a good, constant supply of energy.

Solar is also a good source of energy. Due to our seasonal cycles, solar only supplies power 20% of the time; however our peak energy usage occurs on hot sunny days, when solar energy is abundantly available. Solar is an ideal energy source for hot Ontario summers.

Several prominent organizations agree that conservation and renewables should and can supplant coal and nuclear:

• David Suzuki Foundation “A faster, cheaper and more reliable way to solve Ontario’s electricity crisis is with conservation, efficiency and renewable energy. In fact, studies show that Ontario could meet all of its electricity needs with conservation, efficiency and renewable energy alone.”
• Greenpeace "The best next step for Minister Smitherman is to develop cleaner, cheaper and less risky options for electricity, such as conservation, renewables and local generation."
• Council of Canadians "We need a Canadian Energy Strategy that gives Canadians... strong policies that protect our environment and focus on transitioning to sustainable energy production and consumption."
• Green Party of Canada "The trend to greater energy conservation and efficiency, in combination with the tremendous potential provided by renewables, gives us confidence that coal-fired plants and nuclear reactors will no longer be required to produce energy for Ontario."
• Canadian Environmental Law Association
• Ecojustice
• Environmental Defence
• Great Lakes United
• Low-Income Energy Network
• Ontario Clean Air Alliance
• Ontario Sustainable Energy Association
• Pembina Institute
• Sierra Club Ontario
• Toronto Environmental Alliance
• WWF-Canada

If we want to ensure that the cleanest, safest, most efficient and cost-effective methods of producing power are chosen by our government, we need to be looking more closely at energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.

Yes George, Nuclear is too Expensive

Yesterday Ontario Liberal Energy Minister George Smitherman announced that Ontario will not be proceeding with building new nuclear reactors, for the time being, due to the enormity of the quotes. In other words, they're too expensive! He is waiting for the price to come down before making any commitment.

I've got a few comments about this (which, of course, is why I'm blogging):

1. Two of the bidding companies would not make any commitment whatsoever regarding cost overruns, and while the 3rd, AECL did include this in their bid, the resulting bid was 'billions' more than the province wants to spend. Smitherman commented that he wants to see what results from the sale of AECL before further talks with them. Does he believe that the quote will go down if he waits? Usually these kinds of things go up in price as time goes by. And, if the quote does go down, what will be sacrificed in order to ensure a lower price? Safety? Efficiency? This has me deeply concerned
2. It takes around 10 years to build a reactor. In the meantime, we will need to continue relying on coal as a source of electricity. Ever heard of climate change? We need to shut down our coal power plants as soon as possible. The only way we can do that is to replace it. The most efficient way to replace coal power is with renewable energy, which this country has in abundance. Wind, solar, tidal, geothermal are all available to us, and do not contribute to climate change.
3. Nuclear, on the other hand, is dirty; it poses serious health and safety risks and can lead to terrorist activity. India's first nuclear bomb was made out of spent fuel from a CANDU reactor. Do we really want to continue producing nuclear waste?
4. Has Smitherman forgotten his own commitment to clean air in Ontario? Uranium mining is far from clean. Transporting this material is not clean. Storing it is not clean. Building nuclear reactors is not clean. Actions need to match words - nuclear is not clean.

It's time for Mr Smitherman to realize that the nuclear price tag is too high.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/06/29/onatario-nuclear.html

Durham Regional Councillors Approve Incinerator

Why would Durham regional councillors approve this incinerator?

Don't they listen to their constituents? Nearly 60 area residents delegated against burning 140,000 tonnes of residential waste, but the councillors approved it anyway.

The price tag for this 'project' has gone from $236 M to $272.5 M in the span of merely 2 months. Does anyone believe that this will come in on budget?

How many other initiatives could this council have been considering that would have actually improved the lives of residents, instead of making this dreadful decision.

Shouldn't zero waste be the goal? Surely burning garbage cannot be good for the air or water in the area.

The one ray of hope is that the provincial government has a say in the outcome. McGuinty and Smitherman say that the want a Clean Air future for Ontario. But then these 2 guys also support nuclear, so I wonder if they know what clean, safe, cost-efficient, renewable energy really looks like...

For all our sakes, I hope they do.

Water Treaty Renegotiations

I read an interesting article yesterday afternoon - apparently, according to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the US is interested in renegotiating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Interesting, considering that the rest of the article was about border security and the 100 year old Boundary Waters Treaty.

Interesting too were Ms Clinton's remarks that "The rivers, the lakes, the streams, the watersheds along our boundary do not belong to one nation, they belong to all of us", as she attended celebrations overlooking the falls.

It has often been asserted that the conflicts of the 21st century will be over water, not oil. This is because scientists and politicians know that as much as we rely on oil, there are other forms of energy available to us. However we ALL need water in order to survive; there is no substitute.

Safeguarding our fresh water supply is essential. Canada must ensure that we, and our neighbours, continue in our efforts to keep our fresh water clean and free from contaminents. We must stop selling our water - especially to companies that seek to benefit financially from its sale, while causing harm to ecosystems and generating pollution.

If we are entering negotiations with the US, this is the time for Canada to assert ourselves and stand up to protect the water that we all need in order to survive.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/06/13/boundary-waters.html

Asbestos

All of the hoopla surrounding Lisa Raitt seems to have overshadowed some very serious news items. One of these is the latest story on asbestos.

It may come as a surprise to many of you to know that Canada is still mining and exporting asbestos to developing countries like India and China. In fact, Canada is the world's second largest exporter of asbestos. How is this possible? Do we not recognize that their lives are sacred too, regardless of where they live?

The Conservatives argue that the type of asbestos being mined/exported (chrysotile) is not as hazardous as the type (amphibole) that was used here in Canada in the 60's and 70's. The Canadian Cancer Society disagrees.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that ALL types of asbestos are carcinogenic. Many developed countries have banned asbestos - but not Canada.

Is it possible that we continue to mine/export a known carcinogen, against the advice of the WHO, simply because it is profitable?

When will Canadian governments realize that 'profit' does not always equate with 'good'. In fact, one could argue that these 'profits' are most likely being spent on medical treatment for those unfortunate Canadian men and women who are battling mesothelioma or asbestosis because they work with asbestos. It's what they call a vicious circle...

http://twitter.com/amycollard

Apology?

Keeping up with the media surrounding Lisa Raitt's gaffes is pretty much a fulltime job these days.

Lisa Raitt recently made extremely insensitive remarks about cancer, referring to the medical isotope shortage as 'sexy' and relishing the possibility of furthering her political career by 'rolling the dice' and 'getting all the credit'. She didn't realize that she was being taped at the time, which leads me to believe that her remarks show her true character.

This tape has been making headlines and top news stories all week. When asked about it during Question Period, Raitt went on the offensive showing no sign of remorse or humility.

Three days into this 'scandal' Canadians get to hear her tearful apology.

I wonder just how sincere this apology really was. It was scripted; not spontaneous. It was contrived to make us sympathize with Ms Raitt by including her own personal cancer stories. Quite the contrary; knowing that she has lost loved ones to cancer, makes me question how she could equate the isotope shortage with career advancement. What kind of person so easily forgets the people who are suffering with cancer, and thinks only of how to use that situation to their own advantage?

And today we discover that there is even more damaging information. On the tape Ms Raitt contends that Jim Prentice (Conservative Environment Minister) redirected money that was intended for Wind Energy and instead spent it on Tar Sands research and development.

When will the revelations end? There are over 5 hours of tape and we have only heard a few minutes...

So far Ms Raitt has apologized to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq for comments questioning her ability to handle 'hot' issues, and to Canadians for using the word 'sexy' in reference to the isotope shortage. Will we be hearing of yet another apology to Environment Minister Jim Prentice? Or is it Mr Prentice's turn to apologize to Canadians?

Medical Isotopes

Never in my life have I heard anyone refer to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer as "sexy" - until last night, that is. Our Conservative Natural Resources Minister, Lisa Raitt, as reported in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, said "But it’s sexy. Radioactive leaks. Cancer."

Raitt, also stated that "You know what? Good. Because when we win on this, we get all the credit. I’m ready to roll the dice on this. This is an easy one. You know what solves this problem? Money. And if it’s just about money, we’ll figure it out. It’s not a moral issue."

Is the health and wellbeing of Canadians not "a moral issue"? How can this be? Chalk River usually produces 1/3rd of the world's medical isotopes, which are used to diagnose and treat cancer. How is this not both a moral and an ethical issue?

This is not "just about money"! This is about lives - the lives of Canadians and many other people around the world.

The shortage of these vital medical isotopes should not be used as a political poker chip.

Secrecy

You've likely heard the news - Conservative MP Lisa Raitt left documents marked 'Secret' at the CTV last week. The media are concentrating on the fact that these documents were not properly handled by Ms Raitt, which is true, however I believe they have missed the bigger issue.

My primary concern is that these documents were marked 'Secret'. Since when is government spending a secret? Canadian taxpayers have a right to know how much of their money the Conservative Government is spending to prop up the Nuclear industry. This should not be a secret.

The fact that the Conservatives felt that this information was secret, demonstrates a lack of respect for Canadians. Transparency in government is essential; if AECL spending is a secret, then what other secrets are they keeping?

Chalk River and Medical Isotopes

There has been a lot of press attention surrounding the Chalk River nuclear plant and medical isotope production, but it seems that the Green Party is the only voice that is informing Canadians that we have alternatives.

Medical isotopes can be produced using centrifuge, electromagnetic separation or laser separation - we don't need a nuclear reactor/reaction to create them.

When will the Conservatives stop pushing their nuclear agenda, and look into safer, more reliable sources of energy. Instead of promoting nuclear across the country, they ought to be weighing the associated risks and investing in renewable, cost effective energy. Solar, wind, deep-well geothermal and tidal energy sources are clean, safe, reliable, cost effective and yet the governments insists on pouring millions of dollars into nuclear.

It's time to wake up and move forward to a cleaner, sustainable future!

Green Party of Ontario AGM

The Green Party of Ontario held its AGM over the Victoria Day weekend. It was a great convention with dynamic speakers, good solid dialogue and many opportunities to meet and talk with other members.

I'm going to be working on setting up a Constituency Association for Halton; we don't currently have one, meaning that provincial election campaigns are very difficult to fund, and candidates are hard to find. If you're interested in helping out, please contact me - my contact information is at the bottom of each webpage on this website.

Frank DeJong announced that he will be stepping down at Leader of the GPO. This means that there will be a leadership race, culminating at the policy convention on November 14/15 in London, Ontario. I am on the Leadership Candidate Committee - we met for the first time last night and had a very productive discussion about nomination rules. For more information, please visit www.gpo.ca

That's all for now.

Earth Week in Review

Earth Week started with Halton Eco-Fest on Saturday, April 18th, then moved on to the RBG Earth Week Festival and ended with the Community Clean Up on Saturday, April 25th and the Green Living Show which ran from Friday, April 24th to Sunday, April 26th.

Halton Eco-Fest has grown every year, and this year hosted 110 exhibitors . Themes ranged from education to energy, health to home, politics to products. Of course, members from the Halton, Oakville and Burlington Green Party EDAs were there as well. Many thanks to the organizers for putting together such an informative event!

The RBG Earth Week Festival was a big hit. Students from Halton and Hamilton arrived throughout the day, by bus, to learn how to become more environmentally friendly. There were displays and workshops, as well as an opportunity to stroll around the RBG. I was very pleased to be able to volunteer at the BurlingtonGreen booth, teaching the students about how bottled water impacts our environment. My favourite part of the lesson was watching their faces when I told them that plastic bottles are made out of oil. Most of them were eager to pledge never to drink bottled water again!

Community Clean Up has become a very important community building event in my neighbourhood, and I am happy to say that we see more and more people out every year, pitching in and making a difference. We noticed that there was a lot less garbage this year and hope that this trend will continue.

The Living Green Show, at the Exhibition in Toronto, was a wonderful way to top off an extraordinary week. I met so many Green supporters and had the opportunity to talk to them about their concerns - both environmental and otherwise. There is a tremendous groundswell of support for Green Party initiatives. I feel so fortunate to be a part of the Green movement!

I hope you all enjoyed Earth Week!

Bottled Water

Water is the most abundant natural resource of them all. Clean safe drinking water, on the other hand is more scarce than most Canadians realize.

Even in Canada we are beginning to notice that our fresh water supply is in decline.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to participate in the Ontario Network on Bottled Water and Public Water discussions that took place in Toronto. I was especially encouraged to know that there are now 33 municipalities in 7 provinces that have restricted the sale of bottled water.

Burlington may become the 34th. On April 14th, councillors will be voting on this issue. There is every indication that they will vote to ban the sale of bottled water at all municipal facilities.

However, the bottled water companies are becoming much more aggressive about defending their right to commodify water. Nestle has an employee, John B Callinor Jr, whose primary function seems to be to sway public officials from restricting bottled water sales. He is often quoted in community newspapers whenever municipalities are considering a ban on bottled water.

This tells me that the Canadian people are winning in the battle to preserve our water, and the right to have clean safe drinking water at the mere turn of the tap.

We are nearing the tipping point. The University of Winnipeg recently became the first University to ban bottled water. Several other Universities are expected to quickly follow suit.

It won't be long before provincial and federal governments start taking a serious look at the bottled water issue.

Amy

The Women and Girls of Afghanistan

Today's news from Afghanistan is very disturbing. President Karzai is supporting new legislation which would make it illegal for a woman to refuse to have sex with her husband, leave the house without his permission, or have custody of her children.

This is so reminiscent of the Taliban regime that I wonder why so many Canadian lives have been put on the front lines in Afghanistan. I thought we were supposed to be helping Afghani women and girls.

The number of Canadians killed or brutally injured in Afghanistan is steadily climbing, but it doesn't seem to have helped anyone. We need to change our tactics. We need to find a way to work with the Afghani people to promote human dignity and peace.

The lives of Afghani women and girls depend on how we respond to this legislation.

Conservatives and Liberal Sell Waterways Down the River

Literally.

The Navigable Waterways Protection Act has been thrown out with the baby's bathwater. The Act, which has protected Canada's waterways for the past 100 years, has been changed to allow thousands of projects to proceed without any environmental review.

How was this done? Via the Federal Budget Bill that has now been approved both by MPs and by the Senate.

What does the Federal Budget have to do with the NWPA? Not much, but it was a convenient way to push through legislation to give "shovel-ready" projects the go-ahead without any regard to the impact to our waterways. Protecting Canada's waterways has become 'optional'.

Canadians have had their rights trampled, again. There was no opportunity for public scrutiny of the changes to the Navigable Waterways Protection Act because they were hidden in the Budget Bill.

The world's fresh water supplies are dwindling. The actions of the Conservatives and Liberals in approving these changes to the NWPA will make matters even worse.

Be the Change...

Last night I had the privilege of attending the Halton Green Screens event "Be the Change". The film's producer David Chernushenko spoke to the audience (more than 50 people were in attendance) about why he made the film and how it was made.

Be the Change showcases people from different walks of life who have all found ways to "live lightly" in their community. Originally David had considered travelling to different cities to find the stories for his film, but he found more than enough environmentally aware people in the Ottawa area to make the movie. This speaks loudly to the "hidden heroes" living in every community and demonstrates the collective power of the communities across Canada, and around the world.

David also let us know that he is currently working on another film project - Powerful: energy security for everyone - in which he explores our sources of energy, who controls it, where the profit is going, and how to ensure that we have safe sustainable sources of energy in the future.

For more information on "Living Lightly" please visit http://www.livinglightly.ca/.

Women's Caucus

On the first day of the Green Party convention a women's caucus was formed. There were over 70 women in attendance at our inaugural meeting!

The formation of a women's caucus is an important step in attracting women to take an active role in policy development, and to creating an atmosphere that welcomes women to run as Green Party candidates.

This group of women are representative of women all across Canada who are striving to make a difference in their communities. It was wonderful to be one of them. I look forward to working with these Green women!

Momentum

Having just returned home from the Green Party convention in Pictou, Nova Scotia, I am even more motivated to continue in my efforts to ensure that Greens get elected! Green Party members spent the last 3 days in workshops, discussing and amending over 200 resolutions that will make our policies even more robust.

We heard several speakers over the weekend, including Dr. John O'Connor who identified the increase in cancer rates in people living downwind from the Athabasca Tar Sands; Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of Forest Products Association of Canada who spoke about the need for environmentally sound forestry; Holly Dressel who addressed the current state of our Canadian Health Care system; Nobel Prize winner Jim Bruce who updated us about the climate crisis; and Andrew Nikiforuk who discussed the ramifications of Canada as a "petro-state".

Each of these speakers was compelling and inspired us to carry our motivation with us to the polls at the next federal election, but even more importantly, to keep Green Party policies in the forefront.

A National poll, recently conducted by Ipsos-Reid, has concluded that three quarters of Canadians want the government to "adopt stimulus measures that are environmentally sustainable". I am encouraged that so many Canadians feel this way, and will continue to support policies that lead us in this direction.

A Sustainable future is a Green future!

Ban the Bottle

I have been working on a number of projects since the election, but the one that is getting most of my attention is bottled water.

Clean, safe drinking water is a basic human necessity and should be a universal right, not a commodity to be sold for profit.

Many Canadians believe that bottled water is safer than municipal tap water, but most bottled water is tap water. Not only that, but the plastic bottles have been shown to leach chemicals into the water, making bottled water less safe than tap water.

Several Canadian communities have banned bottled water from their facilities; the City of Burlington is currently considering joining this ever-expanding group. Associations like BurlingtonGreen are at the forefront in this campaign - please see my Events page for more details.

I was recently invited to make a presentation to the Halton District School Board about this issue. The PowerPoint will be available on http://www.amycollard.ca/ later today.

Let's move forward, and do good things!

Amy