Elections

Marilyn Taylor’s Ever-Growing List of Liberal Scandals!!!

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Marilyn Taylor     Jun 6
In that we’re quickly approaching election day, I am enclosing my most recently revised list of Liberal scandals and mishaps. Upon sharing it, please ensure to keep my name on it as I invite people to continue contacting me directly with anything they may feel should be added to the list. This is how I have maintained it over the years. Thank you.

Marilyn Taylor’s List of Liberal Scandals:

Green Energy Act (20 billion)
eHealth scandal (almost 2 billion)
Gas plant scandal (1.1 billion theft and cover-up of our tax dollars)
ORNGE scandal (700 million)
Ontario Northland Railway scandal (820 million)
Caledonia Hydro Line scandal (116 million)
Lobbyist scandal (two multi-million dollar scandals)
Eco-Fee Reversal scandal (18 million)
CancerCare Ontario scandal (millions of dollars)
Slush Fund scandal (32 million)
Presto (Ade Olumide is tackling this in court and has dug up a web of deceit, lies and cover-up’s that will cost us millions if not tens of millions)
Niagara Falls Commission scandal
Ontario Power Generation scandal
Children’s Aid Society scandal
Nanticoke Coal Power Plant Shutdown scandal
G20 Secretly Approved Police Power scandal
Foreign Scholarships scandal (our students pay the highest tuition in Canada while foreign students get free university educations)
Offshore Wind Turbines scandal
Samsung scandal (sole-sourcing)
Pan Am scandal (cost increase from 1.4 to 2.5 billion)
MPAC scandal (over and under-valuation of properties)
OLG scandal (millions of dollars)
Closed down the only English agriculture college in Eastern Ontario which is the hub of the dairy industry while St. Albert Cheese received one million dollars in funding the prior day despite not requesting it
Chemotherapy Dosage scandal
Payout for Pan Am CEO (250 million)
Trillium Wind Power and Sky Power Limited lawsuit (500 million)
Cement company lawsuit (275 million) – Quarry outside Hamilton was scuttled for political reasons
School bus service lawsuit
Augusta/Westland lawsuit as it pertains to ORNGE
Elliot Lake Collapse lawsuits (two lives lost due to recovery delays)
Ontario Medical Association lawsuits – applied to Superior Court alleging McGuinty not negotiating in “good faith”
Breast Screening scandal (ensuing lawsuits due to thousands of misread mammograms, one life lost)
Class-action lawsuit for autism funding cancellation
Over 650 new agencies, boards, commissions and entities such as LHIN’s and CCAC’s
Over 300,000 new public servants many of whom, are on the sunshine list
Public sector employment in health care increased by 39%
Public sector employment in social services increased by 39%
Public sector employment in education increased by 34%
Paying more Liberal taxes only to receive fewer services as taxes now being spent to pay the salaries and perks of newly-assigned, Liberal-friendly public servants
Gutted our manufacturing base (job growth across Canada except in Ontario)
Almost one million Ontarians now out of work
Increased spending by 80% while our economy grew by only 9%
More than doubled our debt to 288 billion
Running a 11.3 billion annual deficit – debt servicing costs will rise from 11.4 billion today to 14.5 billion once the debt exceeds 300 billion by 2017-18
Interest payments on our debt now the third largest budget expenditure after health and education
Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress confirmed that McGuinty’s Green Energy Act grossly underestimated the cost to consumers and overestimated the number of new jobs that would be created
Tax collectors getting 45,000.00 severance packages for switching job titles from provincial to federal
Two OPP criminal investigations underway – ORNGE scandal and gas plant scandal
Pharmacy war
Illegal green taxes
Increased smart meter, electricity, hydro, tuition
Raising car insurance costs to the highest in Canada
Implemented a tire tax : my friend needed new tires for his farm tractor & eight tires at $352.00 each came to $2,816.00 for one tractor
Implemented an electronics tax, eco fee’s, Health Premium (tax), WSIB tax increase, HST, beer surtax
Failing grade on ADHD education
Ranking the lowest of all provinces for fiscal performance
Delisting eye exams, physiotherapy, chiropractic care, diabetic strips, etc.
Increasing wait time for cataract surgery
No longer covered for eye exams yet taxpayers paying for sex changes
Wait time for nursing home bed tripled
Failure to disclose elevated radiation levels
OES missed its collection and recycling targets by 59%
Not correcting the foreign ownership of our beer market
Acceptance of garbage striker extortion
Harassing labour inspectors
Kowtowing to green energy lobbies
Imposing blood alcohol rules that punish people who are not impaired
Millions wasted on questionable grants to multicultural groups, including 1 million to a cricket club which had asked for only 150,000.00
Trades college a self-serving Liberal creation to reward union friends
Public utilities donating to Liberals
Voting to cover up the Niagara Parks Commission scandal
Emergency room wait times not meeting provincial targets
Put on notice by Standard and Poor, credit rating downgraded, under a very serious credit watch
Have-not province for the first time in Canadian history
Borrowing more debt than any province except NB
Dramatic cuts in health care services in schools
Nurses getting bonuses despite a wage freeze
Insufficient senior homecare services
Failing grade of Family Responsibility Office
Abstained from vote to investigate CBC expenses
Cash kickback scheme involving government cleaning contracts that ended with the conviction of Liberal officials
Talked about a two-year freeze on wages for public sector while previously giving the OPP a 5% wage increase – the OPP received another raise of over 8% in January, 2014
Energy now unaffordable yet we must pay Quebec and some north-eastern States to take our surplus energy
Encouraging farmers to build small-scale solar projects but having no way to connect them to the power grid
Laid up in US hospital beds as no beds available in Ontario
Refusing public inquiry into G20 fiasco
Giving those who hire only newcomers a 10,000.00 tax credit
Third highest user of food banks
Announced pay freezes knowing that 38,000 were getting a 3% salary increase after the election
Hiding hospital errors from the public
Teachers skipping classes to assist with anti-Conservative campaign
Failing grade in northern forestry management
Almost 40 C. difficile deaths to date
Loss of 6,500 cancer patient health records
Highest rent increase rate in years
Ignoring evidence that wind turbines can cause poor health
Workers at eHealth suing for not receiving bonuses

Children pleading for life-saving medication that other provinces provide but Ontario doesn’t (Liam, Madi, Anya)
Ontarians dying due to a lack of health care (Kim recently lost her life to brain cancer)
Ontarians being denied eye care that other Ontarians have covered under OHIP (Liam)
Forced all-day childcare at a cost of 1.5 billion against Drummond’s recommendation
Electricity rates to rise 42% over five years – based upon Liberal proven lies and broken promises, rates will rise over 42%
Prior loss of 60,000 jobs in the horse racing industry – now attempting to correct this
Ring of Fire
Muslims praying in our public funded school system while the Lord’s prayer is banned
A pedophile was developing the Liberal’s sex education curriculum
Millions spent to remove the “C” from OLG when Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation was changed to Ontario Lottery & Gaming
McGuinty defunded the Centre for Forensic Sciences throwing a world-renowned police team who specialized in retrieving deleted computer files out of work two months before he resigned
Millions spent to needlessly redesign our provincial logo
Legal rights of Ontarians disregarded relative to the Caledonia-Mohawk matter
Education minister signing off on documents that she doesn’t even read
Staggering increase in the Sunshine List
Nanny-state banning of nearly everything
Outrageous property assessments
Cancelling the mandatory LHIN review and giving their CEO’s $15,000 raises
Sneaking tax-dollars into Liberals campaign team coffers
Wynne’s brother-in-law appointed as 210,000/year interim eHealth CEO
London CAS charged 1.4M for false accusation and deleting documents
David Peterson, brother-in-law of Deb Matthews, appointed Pan American Games organizing committee chair
Wynne’s wife owns 50% of a consulting company that gets government business – including Ministry of Health
Numerous CAS problems identified by Provincial Auditor General include luxury vehicles, resort vacations, etc.
Lack of oversight regarding how often babies die in unregulated child care
Huge severance packages and bonuses paid out by taxpayer dollars
Creation of the Ontario College of Trades
Solid Gold scandal
AGCO decision disallows contract brewers like left field brewery at events that are licensed with a Special Occasion Permit (SOP)
Drive Clean Program changed to cost more
21,000+ adults and children with developmental disabilities on wait lists
Proposed hospital and winery grant to to win another by-election (fails)
Minimum wage increase concerns
1.4 billion Windsor Parkway’s serious safety flaws from substandard materials
Mike Crawley awarded 456 million wind contract while Liberal Party president
2.5 billion lawsuit from cancellation of turbines of Scarborough shore which saved 2 Liberal seats and led to WTO ruling
Mishandling of the outlaw of pit bulls
10.00 tax on tax increase on license plate stickers every year for the past 3 years
Introduction of a “modest” 70% increase on the heavy truck licensing sticker fees
Lack of provincial action regarding the Law Society of Upper Canada that does not protect the public from lawyers who steal from their clients
Advising that 5.00 was more than enough to feed seniors in a nursing home every day
4 billion dollars taken from the debt retirement charge fund, thereby adding 5 more years to the payoff time
Health Minister Deb Matthews blames doctors for nursing homes drugging residents at an alarming rate
Working Families Coalition is another Liberal scam of epic proportions
Wynne approved a 317 million bailout to the MaRS office building in downtown Toronto without the public’s knowledge or approval of the Legislature “after” she dissolved government
1 million spent to set up fake twitter accounts supporting Wynne’s road tolls proposition
Terminated 2,500 nursing jobs in 2011
Vandalizing opposition signs and replacing them with Liberal signs during elections
Ornge charged with 17 offences under the Canadian Labour Code
Ontario ignored cancer lab warnings
Hid the over payment by billions of the “Debt Retirement Charge”
Supply teachers paid to “help stop Hudak”
Wynne didn’t correct the media when they reported in error that she “studied at Harvard” – she went there for a one week seminar only

Liberals Attack Hudak, Out of Fear…..of Losing!

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Eric Jelinski M. Eng. P. Eng. — June 5, 2014

We’d have to admit this is a most boring campaign given that we have made up our minds long ago including the sit on the fence types who don’t vote. Therefore our curiosity wanders and we find interest in what is not being said. The liberals appear to think the world will end if the PC’s win. But in truth, the world will not end. Yes, for the liberals, their world will end. For everybody who votes PC, this will be a new beginning. We already know what all the candidates especially Wynne is talking about using her seemingly bottomless well of money to pay for those boring adverts about how their world will end.

We already have a taste of what Wynne doesn’t talk about. She doesn’t say anything about how renewable energy will create and sustain jobs and the economy. Wynne is admitting that the Green Energy Act is a technical and public relations disaster. The thousands of wind turbines and so little sporadic energy, that gas plants had to be built for real energy. Yet, gas plants were never part of the GEA in the beginning. They were dreaming and continue to dream in Technicolor about wind turbines. They have not answered to my e-mail below from 2 months ago.

More-over there are the health and other issues her government fails to answer, including the latest peer reviewed article about the issues,
http://www.cureus.com/articles/2457-systematic-review-2013-association-between-wind-turbines-and-human-distress#.U42qS2fji00 The day is fast approaching when this topic can no longer be avoided and the medical practitioners, College of Physicians, OMA, ONA, Ministry of Health and Environment, the Premier, and perhaps even their Federal counterparts will all need to talk about this, as this is the most lumpy part of the liberal platform.

Having decreed that we have enough electricity due to the failed economy, they continue to fail the economy by giving preferred friends contracts for the high priced wind energy and giving their friends a 15% return on investment of the wind farms on a colossal scale. While Mayor Ford campaigned on cutting the gravy train, it seems anything goes under the liberals.

The hidden agenda in the MaRS caper is to increase the size of government by adding more assistants to the assistants… as if we need a more bloated government. This election is partly about opportunity to build empires…Wynne’s empire.

Last, but not least of all the not talked about are the tax increases Wynne would impose. You hopefully have not forgotten the “revenue tools” she has talked about months ago, but is now silent on perhaps to slyly screw us with her revenue tools to pay for her promises. Of course we see another connection not talked about and that is all of the public service will get pay raises to cover the tax increases. Does that sound possible? Does that sound fair and right for the greater good.

The province is basically divided between those who work for the government and get the benefit of about 2x the paycheque plus health and dental plans vs those in the private sector who employ the vast majority of the Ontario people who work at minimum or near minimum wage who have to suffer from the taxes and high hydro rates.

And the last thing not talked about is how the bullies become bullies when they are about to lose their assumed entitlement. After 10 years of a centrist partisan monastery, it is time for a change for the greater good where all of Ontario can have input to government policy.

I hope this will get talked about perhaps at the next debate.

 

wynne1.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox

The Corruption and Misdeeds of the Liberals, Never End…

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OPP serves court order at Queen’s Park, McGuinty interviewed by detectives

Published on: June 5, 2014Last Updated: June 5, 2014 9:25 PM EDT
Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty has been interviewed by detectives about the gas plant scandal.
Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty has been interviewed by detectives about the gas plant scandal.

The OPP anti-rackets investigation into an alleged coverup in Dalton McGuinty’s office intensified Thursday with detectives serving a court order to staff at Queen’s Park for key records, and confirming they have interviewed the former premier about the gas plants scandal.

The information to obtain the court’s production order was drafted after a handful of police interviews, including one with McGuinty in April.

The judge-issued order requires staff to hand over various records, including visitor logs for the times police believe an off-the-books computer tech accessed hard drives in the premier’s office, four days before Kathleen Wynne was sworn in.

Queen’s Park staff have 10 days to hand the records over to police. The information to obtain will not be made public until Det. Andre Duval files his returns to justice — a form that lists all items seized by police. While the contents of the ITO will therefore not be revealed until after the election, the latest police search for evidence comes in the final stretch of the campaign.

The anti-rackets unit, known for its detailed searches in high-profile cases, made a point of saying they are anything but political, and will go whenever and wherever the evidence takes them.

“The timing of the production order comes in the regular course of the investigation and should be viewed exclusively in that light,” said OPP Sgt. Pierre Chamberland, who confirmed the latest events in the investigation.

Detectives are trying to see who, if anyone, ordered the destruction of emails in an alleged coverup to hide the true costs of cancelling gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga — a tab now pegged at $1.1 billion in taxpayers’ money.

Police allege that David Livingston, McGuinty’s last chief of staff, enlisted Peter Faist to work on the hard drives in the premier’s office, using a secretary’s super-password that was specifically created to grant full access to any computer and was designed to hide any electronic tracks.

Faist is the tech-savvy partner of Livingston’s former deputy chief, Laura Miller, who has since gone on to work for the B.C. Liberal Party.

Months before police say Faist accessed staff computers, Livingston was asking around about storage protocols at the premier’s office, and asked cabinet secretary Peter Wallace how existing email accounts of employees could be deleted.

“I advised (Livingston) at that point in time that if he was interested in deleting records associated with the public service, this would be futile because we retained our records,” Wallace told detectives.

On Jan. 25, 2013, Livingston went to see then-corporate chief information officer David Nicholl about getting an administrative password “to clean hard drives during the transition period to the new Wynne government,” according to a search warrant application filed in February.

Livingston is the only named suspect in the case so far. Anti-rackets detectives are investigating him for an alleged breach of trust while in public office, specifically when they say he gave the “special global” password for unfettered access to computers in Ontario’s highest office.

None of the allegations has been proven or tested in court, and Livingston has not been charged with a crime.

In a statement, his lawyer has said his client “did nothing wrong and certainly did not break the law as alleged.”

Lawyer Brian Gover said Livingston “was consistently open about his actions in the premier’s office and he always believed that those actions were proper and in accordance with normal practices.”

Thursday’s production order marks another key phase in the probe into the final days of McGuinty’s office.

The last days were anything but business as usual. It was as if the premier’s office was transferring power to a rival party, not its own. Two staffers reported to police that they witnessed the non-government employee access their computers.

In late March, and a day after the court filings were made public, the Ontario Liberal Party told Faist his computer services were no longer required.

gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com

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Ontario election debate: Hudak and Horwath

try to make ‘corrupt’ Liberal record stick

Scott Stinson | June 3, 2014 9:29 PM ET

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne and PC leader Tim Hudak square off in a televised debate in Toronto on Tuesday. Wynne was forced to defend her role in the Liberal gas-plant scandal.

Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press; Frank Gunn/CP; Mark Blinch/CP-poolOntario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne and PC leader Tim Hudak square off in a televised debate in Toronto on Tuesday. Wynne was forced to defend her role in the Liberal gas-plant scandal.

Premier Kathleen Wynne spent the early part of the Ontario leaders’ debate apologizing for her party’s “mistakes” in the billion-dollar gas-plant scandal, as an election issue that has largely been overlooked in the month-long campaign quickly returned to the forefront.

The art of persuasion hasn’t progressed much since Aristotle was plying his trade 2,300 years ago.

Politicians still need to persuade their audience they are of good character; they must make an emotional connection; and they have to convince voters their message makes sense ­ — in Aristotle’s words, ethos, pathos and logos.

For Tim Hudak at the Ontario leaders’ debate Tuesday, two out of three wouldn’t have been a bad result.

Continue reading…

Responding to the first of six questions submitted by viewers in the only debate of the six-week campaign, one that asked how the Liberals could be trusted, Ms. Wynne said the decisions made “were wrong” and “public money was wasted.” Rather than pivot away, the Premier said that there had been “a breach of trust,” but “I have apologized for that.”

It was a perfect opening for NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who was able to begin her remarks in the 90-minute televised debate by saying “the Liberals have betrayed you.” How the Liberals could be trusted, she said, was “the actual question of the evening.”

Ms. Horwath, as did PC leader Tim Hudak later, pushed Ms. Wynne to explain why, as a member of Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet, she didn’t “say no” to the decision to cancel two gas-fired power plants at what turned out to be a $1.1-billion cost to the public.

“I am so sorry that public funds were wasted,” the Premier replied. “I have taken responsibility for being a part of a government that made mistakes.”

It was an impossible start for Ms. Wynne, and a subject for which there is no good answer, but even still she struggled to not sound guilty. “I’ve said that the decisions weren’t right,” she said. Mr. Hudak responded by saying that if the Liberals are re-elected after having apologized for getting caught, “they’re going to do it again.”

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Cut off the Subsidies, and the Wind Weasels Scurry! Great!

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Britain’s uncertain renewables policy puts off investors

Decision to bring forward cap on solar power projects and mixed

signals on renewables support sees the UK slip down EY’s ranking

Uncertainty about Government support for renewable energy has meant the UK has become less attractive to investors

Uncertainty about Government support for renewable energy has meant the UK has become less attractive to investors Photo: ALAMY

The UK has slipped down the rankings of global destinations for investors in renewable energy because of policy uncertainty leading into next year’s election, according to EY.

The conflicting signals over the future of support for renewables beyond the 2015 election and the proposed cap on solar power projects eligible for support being brought in earlier than planned has meant the attractiveness of UK’s renewables market has fallen back to the levels last seen in November 2012. EY’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index now rates the UK behind the US, China, Germany, Japan and Canada.

“The UK has slipped to sixth place for the first time in more than a year. Policy tinkering and conflicting signals once again become too much for investors and developers to handle”, Ben Warren, EY’s Environmental Finance leader said on the UK’s position in the index said.

The Government has said that subsidies, which have driven the spread of large solar farms across Britain, are to be scrapped under plans to stop the panels blighting the countryside. Energy companies that build solar farms currently qualify for generous consumer-funded subsidies through the so-called ‘Renewable Obligation’ (RO) scheme, and had expected to keep doing so until 2017.

But the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced last month that it planned to shut the RO to new large solar farms two years early, from April next year. Mr Warren said the proposals had “taken the shine off the UK’s otherwise booming solar market”.

The decision follows an admission by ministers that far more projects have been built than expected, leading to a rising subsidy bill for consumers and increasing local opposition. Greg Barker, the energy minister, said in April that solar farms must not become “the new onshore wind” and proposed solar panels installed on factory rooftops instead.

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to go into the next election pledging to “rid” the countryside of onshore wind farms and cut subsidies that would reduce the number of planned wind farms and could encourage developers to start “dismantling” turbines built, in recent years.

A report by the Renewable Energy Foundation has shown that Britain has already approved enough renewable energy projects to hit its EU targets, rendering all 1,000 projects still in the planning system surplus to requirements.

The UK’s 15% target for 2020 covers all energy, including heating and fuels – and in practice is expected to require at least 30% of electricity to come from renewable sources.

“As ever with the renewables sector, more damaging than the outcome of any review itself, is the uncertainty it creates and the trust it erodes. This last quarter has been no exception, with little done to foster sympathy from the renewable energy sector, which appears to be continuously caught in the firing line” Mr Warren said.

“The recent carbon tax freeze, an energy market competition probe and Conservative Party plans to scrap onshore wind subsidies post 2015 are weighing heavily on the sector’s ability to assess the long-term outlook,” he added.

Tim Hudak is the Obvious Best Choice for Ontario’s Premier!

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Shellie Correia

“the original Mothers Against Wind Turbines TM”,
thank Tim Hudak, for a Job Well Done!
    We went to the CBC, on Front St., in Toronto, to support the Conservative Party, and Tim Hudak, at the
Leader’s Debate. and also to attend the party afterward.  When Tim came into the room, after the debate, the
crowd went crazy!  I congratulated Tim, and told him that he had done a wonderful job this evening, and that
were very proud!  Tim’s wife, Deb, was beaming, and looked radiant.  What an awesome couple!
Tim Hudak made the other two lack-luster candidates, look like blithering fools.  He really nailed this debate!!!
He answered questions, while they tried their best, to avoid them. He had clear, logical answers, while they
made ridiculous statements about what they were going to do with money that we, the taxpayers, do not have.
Tim nailed this debate….hands down!  I am thrilled with his accomplishments!
     While Tim talked about improving our kid’s math and science grades, Horwath said she would give them breakfast.
Tim wants our kids to thrive and succeed, while Horwath, wants them to be dependent upon government handouts.
Tim Hudak was the only one, that would even discuss the wind turbine fiasco, the others didn’t dare even speak of
that scam!  Tim Hudak has a serious plan for repairing the damage that was done, by the Liberal party, (enabled by the NDP!)
     Wynne was a complete bomb.  She looked terrified in the beginning, Saying she was sorry for the gas plants,
repeatedly, but we already know, that she is sorry, only that they got caught!   She then became defensive, and angry,
finishing off by pleading with her ever-outstretched arms, and offering to spend more of our money on Toronto’s infrastructure
The ratio for infrastructure, was half for the GTA, and half for the rest of the entire province…..none of which she has any way
to pay for, other than sinking us even further into debt!
All in all, it was an incredible evening.  We thanked our hosts, at Boston Pizza, for the wonderful food, drinks, and service,
shook hands with the other jubilant Conservative supporters, from all over the province, and we felt very satisfied with the outcome
of the Leader’s Debate!  I believe it was quite obvious to all, that Tim Hudak, is by far, the Best Choice for Ontario’s next Premier!

 

Living Too Close to a Wind Turbine, is Bad for Your Health!

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Updated Research Design and Sound Exposure Assessment

Summary

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in wind turbine generated electricity in Canada. As of November 2012, Canada’s installed capacity was 5.9 Gigawatts, providing 2.3 percent of Canada’s current electricity demands. The wind energy industry has set a vision that by 2025 wind energy will supply 20% of Canada’s electricity demands. Some public concern has been expressed about the potential health impacts of wind turbine sound (WTSFootnote i). The health effects reported by individuals living in communities in close proximity to wind turbine installations are poorly understood due to limited scientific research in this area. This is coupled with the many challenges faced in measuring and modeling WTS, including low frequencies, which represent knowledge gaps in this area. The continued success and viability of wind turbine energy in Canada, and around the world, will rely upon a thorough understanding of the potential health impacts and community concerns.

Health Canada is collaborating with Statistics Canada on an epidemiological study to evaluate measurable health endpoints in people living in 8-12 communities at distances up to 10km from wind turbine installations. Measured endpoints include an automated blood pressure/heart rate assessment, hair cortisol concentrations and sleep actimetry. The seven days of sleep measurement data will be analyzed in relation to synchronized wind turbine operational data, providing the strength of a repeated measures design that incorporates objectively determined health outcome measures.

Read full report at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2013/wind_turbine-eoliennes/research_recherche-eng.php

Footnote i: An important distinction is made between the physical characterization of acoustical energy as "sound" and the subjective evaluation of sound as "noise" when it is subjectively evaluated as unwanted.
Posted on the Health Canada website, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2013/wind_turbine-eoliennes/research_recherche-eng.php

The Liberals have Destroyed our Affordable Electricity

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Ontario’s Power Trip: Irrational energy

planning has tripled power rates under

the Liberals’ direction

Parker Gallant, Special to Financial Post | June 2, 2014 | Last Updated:Jun 3 8:17 AM ET

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals claimed the province’s electricity sector was in a mess when they took over in 2003. Look at it today.

Ontario Hydro may well have been a mess. But it was a mess that produced less expensive electricity

In the summer of 2003, just before Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals gained power in Ontario, 50 million people in the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Ontario suffered an electricity blackout caused “when a tree branch in Ohio started an outage that cascaded across a broad swath from Michigan to New England and Canada.” Back in 2003 Ontario’s electricity prices were 4.3 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh) and delivery costs added 1.5 cents per kWh. An additional charge of 0.7 cents — known as the debt retirement charge to pay back Ontario Hydro’s legacy debt of $7.8-billion — brought all-in costs to the average consumer to 6.5 cents per kWh.

The McGuinty Liberals claimed the province’s electricity sector was in a mess when they took over in 2003. The Liberals’ first Energy minister, Dwight Duncan, said then that he rejected the old Ontario Hydro model. “It didn’t work. We’re fixing it. We’re cleaning up the mess.”

Fast forward 11 years. Today, Ontario electricity costs average over 9 cents per kWh, delivery costs 3 cents per kWh or more, the 0.7-cent debt retirement charge is still being charged, plus a new 8% provincial sales tax. Additional regulatory charges take all-in costs to well over 15 cents per kWh.. The increase in the past 10 years averaged over 11% annually. Recently, the Energy Minister forecast the final consumer electricity bill will jump another 33% over the next three years and 42% in the next 5 years.

Summing up: Whatever mess existed in 2003 is billions of dollars worse today. The cost of electricity for the average Ontario consumer went from $780 on the day Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals took power to more than $1,800, with more increases to come. The additional $1,020 in after-tax dollars extracted from the province’s 4.5 million ratepayers is $4.6 billion – per year!

Why?

First, the Liberal Party fell under the influence of the Green Energy Act Alliance (GEAA), a green activist group that evolved into a corporate industry lobby group that adopted anthropogenic global warming as a business strategy. The strategy: Get government subsidies for renewable energy. The GEAA convinced the McGuinty Liberals to follow the European model. That model was: Replace fossil-fuel-generated electricity with renewable energy from wind, solar and biomass (wood chips to zoo poo). In the minds of those who framed the Liberal’s energy policies, electricity generated from wind, solar, biomass – green energy – was the way of the future.

The plan was implemented through the 2009 Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEA), a sweeping, even draconian, legislative intervention that included conservation spending and massive subsidies for wind, solar and biomass via a euro-style feed-in-tariff scheme. The GEA created a rush to Ontario by international companies seeking above market prices, a rush that pushed the price of electricity higher. The greater the increase in green energy investment, the higher prices would go.

At the same time, Liberals forced installation of smart meters, a measure that added $2-billion to distribution costs. Billions more were needed for transmission lines to hook up the new wind and solar generators. At the same time, wind and solar generation – being unstable – needed back-up generation, which forced the construction of new gas plants. The gas plants themselves became the target of further government intervention, leading to the $1-billion gas plant scandal.

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To force adoption of often unpopular wind and solar plants, the GEA took away municipal rights relating to all generation projects, stripping rural communities of their authority to accept or reject them.

To pay for the rising subsidies to wind and solar, the Liberals adopted an accounting device that would spread the cost over all electricity consumers. The device was called the “Global Adjustment.” The Global Adjustment draw on consumers grew fast and will continue its upward movement. In effect, the Global Adjustment is a dump on ratepayers for energy costs that are above market rates. During 2013, the total global adjustment was $7.8-billion. Of that, 52% went to gas/wind/solar/biomass.

The GA for 2014 is expected to rise to $8.6-billion, adding another 2.9 cents per kWh for each electricity consumer.

To oversee all this, the Liberals established the Ontario Power Authority to do long-term energy planning (LTEP) and to contract renewable generation under the feed-in tariff (FIT) program that guaranteed wind and solar generators above-market prices for 20 years or more. In 10 years Ontarians have seen four versions of the so-called long-term plan, suggesting there is nothing long-term or planned. The Auditor General’s report of Dec 5, 2011, disclosed that no cost/benefit analysis was completed in respect to those feed-in tariff contracts.

Whatever mess existed in 2003 is billions of dollars worse today

The numerous Liberals who have sat in the Energy Minister’s chair have had a penchant for believing how the sector should function, issuing “directives” from the cabinet. The directives created the most complex and expensive electricity sector in North America. The Association of Major Power Consumers issued a “Benchmarking” report in which they stated: “Our analysis shows that Ontario has the highest industrial rates in North America. Ontario not only has the highest delivered rates of all these jurisdictions; the disparity in rates also is growing.”

The almost 100 directives over the past 11 years from Liberal energy ministers have instructed the OPA, the Ontario Energy Board, Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One on a wide variety of issues from building a tunnel under Niagara Falls to paying producers for not generating power, subsidizing industrial clients for conservation while subsidizing other industrial clients for consumption. Numerous new programs have been created that support clients in Northern Ontario, urban clients for purchasing EVs (electric vehicles), homeowners for purchasing CFL light bulbs and a host of other concepts without weighing the effect on employers or taxpayers.
Aside from the burden on consumers, Ontario’s Power Trip has cost jobs as companies – Caterpillar, Heinz, Unilever and others – closed Ontario operations while others, such as Magna, failed to invest in Ontario due to high electricity prices and high taxes that would have created private sector jobs.

Were “green energy” jobs created? Government claims hit 31,000 in a press release in June 2013 but since then no mention of green job claims appears in releases. The recent budget of Finance Minister Charles Sousa reported 10,100 jobs in the “clean tech” sector, a far cry from earlier claims.

Ontario Hydro may well have been a mess a decade ago. But it was a mess that produced electricity priced to consumers at 6.5 cents a kWh. Current prices of 15 cents a kWh will rise to over 20 cents a kWh by 2018/19, forcing the average Ontario ratepayer to pay an additional $700 annually. By that date the cost of “renewable energy” to Ontario’s 4.5 million ratepayers will result in an annual extraction of $8-billion to satisfy the perceived benefits of wind, solar and biomass. Over the 20 years of the FIT contracts, $160-billion in disposable income will be removed from ratepayer’s pockets to access a basic commodity, all in the name of “global warming” and renewable power without use of a cost/benefit analysis.

Perhaps it is time for a change in the governing of Ontario and particularly the way the electricity sector is overseen.

Parker Gallant is a former Canadian banker who looked at his local electricity bill and didn’t like what he saw.

O.P.P. Have They Crossed that Political Line? I Believe So!

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CHRISTINA BLIZZARD | QMI AGENCY

 

TORONTO – Who do you call when the police break a law?

You have to ask that as the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) sent shockwaves through the election campaign Monday with attack ads targeting PC Leader Tim Hudak.

It’s the first time the OPPA has entered the political fray with advertising.

I hope it’s the last.

“We’re here to keep you safe,” says one ad – and shows uniformed officer pushing a lawbreaker into a cruiser. “We’re the OPP and we’re here for you. Who’s Tim Hudak here for?” A respected Toronto lawyer said he believes the ads are illegal and may contravene the Public Service of Ontario Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in political activities unless they take an unpaid leave of absence.

“Yes, I think they have broken the law,” said Paul Copeland, a life bencher with the Law Society of Upper Canada, in a telephone interview.

Copeland, who was awarded the Order of Canada for human rights and social justice work, pointed out that the act prohibits civil servants from commenting on politics.

He pointed to a section of the act that says civil servants “cannot comment publicly outside the scope of his or her duties as a public servant on matters that are directly related to those duties and that are addressed in the policies of a federal or provincial party or in the policies of a candidate in a federal or provincial election.”

Unlike municipal police, OPP are not governed by the Police Services Act, which also prohibits political activity.

Copeland said it’s traditionally considered improper for police, armed forces and judges to comment on political matters.

“They are public servants with a very special status in society and it’s dangerous to the democratic process to have them commenting on political matters and endorsing candidates,” he said.

Meanwhile, OPPA president Jim Christie confirmed there are real cops in the ads – and a real OPP cruiser. They were part of a public service ad put out by the police union to laud the good work they do. They tweaked it for the attack ad.

He said it’s not unusual for cops to participate in political activities.

“I think it’s naive to believe the police services don’t get involved politically,” he told me.

“We’ve donated to campaigns, we’ve attended fundraisers, we’ve gone to leaders’ dinners, we’ve supported golf tournaments – all with the view of putting money in political coffers.”

He said it’s his job as a union leader to fight for the pay, perks and pensions of his members and he’s concerned about Hudak’s plans to freeze OPP pay for two years and change the pension plan for new recruits.

The OPP has received hefty pay hikes under the Liberal government.

An 8.55% pay hike kicked in Jan. 1 as part of the government’s commitment to make them the highest paid force in the province.

That pay hike gave an OPP constable with three years on the job an annual base salary of $90,621.

There are two OPP probes going on at Queen’s Park – one into the Ornge air ambulance scandal, the other into the alleged deletion of e-mails by senior staff in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s office as they supposedly attempted to cover their tracks in the gas plant scandal.

How can those probes continue when the force has been politicized like this?

Politicians shouldn’t direct cops. And cops shouldn’t engage in the political dialogue during an election when they’ll work for – or perhaps investigate – whoever wins it.

This is a conflict in so many ways. The OPP provide protection for provincial politicians.

The cops have crossed a big, blue line with these ads.

Everyone Whines About the Ever-Growing Debt, but No One, Wants to Make any Sacrifices.

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Kelly McParland: OPP attack on Hudak relegates

the public interest to second place

Skyrocketing OPP costs have municipal councils worried.

DAN JANISSE/The Windsor StarSkyrocketing OPP costs have municipal councils worried.

In launching a direct attack on opposition leader Tim Hudak, the association representing 6,000 Ontario Provincial Police officers underlines just how hard it is for any government to make a serious effort to control public spending.

Wages and benefits consume more than half of Ontario government spending. Any attempt to reduce spending must therefore include some restriction on salaries. But public servants are heavily unionized, and unions ferociously oppose any plan to might impact on their members. Therefore any government that hopes to control spending faces fierce opposition from public sector unions.

The Ontario Provincial Police Association is the latest to join this cabal. On Monday the OPPA released two 15-second ads denouncing PC leader Tim Hudak, who is seeking election on June 12 on a pledge to control spending and eliminate the province’s annual $12 billion annual deficit.

“For the first time in the sixty year history of the OPPA, Tim Hudak has given us no choice but to engage in a publicity campaign during an election”, said OPPA presidentJim Christie.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon Blacker

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon BlackerOntario Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak speaks at the Abilities Centre in Whitby.

“A Tim Hudak led government would launch a direct assault on the Collective Agreements of Police Associations right across the Province. His positions on arbitration, public sector pensions and further wage freezes, among others issues, are unacceptable to our members who put their lives on the line for their communities every day.”

Absurdly, the association maintains it is not taking sides in the election, despite the ads. “Let me be clear,” said Christie. “These ads do not serve as an endorsement for the Liberals or the NDP. This also does not mean that we don’t respect and work well with many in the Conservative caucus. We just don’t want this Conservative as Premier.”

Ontario’s unions are already heavily arrayed against the Conservatives. Working Families Ontario, a union group financed by an array of public and private sector labour organizations, spends millions on TV and web advertisements attacking Conservative candidates. The PCs launched a legal challenge charging the group is a front for the governing Liberals, but lost when the court ruled there are no formal ties to the party.

It’s unfortunate that the OPP have seen fit to put their own interests ahead of a province that badly needs to get its finances in order.

The  OPP is thus joining teachers and nurses in seeking to block any legislation that might help get provincial spending back into balance. Not that it’s suffering. The OPP web site notes that it “prides itself on how it treats its employees.” A beginner recruit starts at $49,751 a year, and can work up to more than $90,000 after just three years. The annual Ontario “Sunshine List” of public employees earning above $100,000 a year shows hundreds of OPP staff and officers earning above that level. And while promising to cut public employment by 100,000 jobs, Mr. Hudak has expressly exempted police from being affected.

Ontario municipalities have been increasingly vocal about the difficulty of meeting regular rises in  policing costs, and fear a further increase will follow a new OPP billing model they say could add millions of dollars to local budgets.  But getting control over costs is aggravated by the natural reluctance to engage in a high-profile confrontation with police, and by the peculiarities of the provincial arbitration system. Ontario arbitrators often settle pay disputes by comparing local pay to other regions, without taking into account a municipality’s ability to pay. So if one town gives in to higher pay demands, it sets off a cycle of increases across the province as each force in turn demands similar treatment. In addition, larger forces vie to be the highest paid, ensuring a second domino effect. Similar pressures in the U.S. have led to a number of  cities declaring bankruptcy, especially over policing costs.

The easiest way to deal with the problem is simply to give in to the unions, as the Liberals have done throughout most of their 11 years in power. The Liberal practice of buying labour peace has contributed heavily to the doubling of Ontario’s debt since the Liberals took office. The toughest approach is to challenge the unions and risk the kind of attacks now being aimed at the Conservatives.

The result is that political parties find themselves in a paradox. If they do the responsible thing and make a serious effort  to oppose ruinous spending increases, they risk a public battle they could easily lose. If they give in to union pressure they may find it easier to get re-elected, but at the cost of forsaking the best interests of the province. It’s a Catch-22: What’s best for the party is what’s worst for the province. For 11 years the Liberals have consistently opted to do what’s good for themselves, amassing a debt that will be left for another generation to confront. Mr. Hudak, in pledging to pursue what’s good for the province,  has made himself deeply unpopular with union groups and the subject of virulent attacks.

It’s unfortunate that the OPP have seen fit to put their own interests ahead of a province that badly needs to get its finances in order. Police occupy a special place in society and enjoy a number of privileges as a result. Using that status to wage a partisan political battle is both unseemly and  inappropriate. The familiar police motto, “to serve and protect” is generally taken to refer to the public interest, not their own pocketbooks. They’d have been better off staying silent and leaving the politicking to politicians.

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