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Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson wants to know when Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government will admit that their current approach to wind energy has been a failure, and if they will listen to the recent remarks from the co-founder of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore.

In his speech to the annual Southwest Agricultural Conference, Moore told 1,000 farmers that the wind industry is “a destroyer of wealth and negative to the economy."

Wind farms are “ridiculously expensive” and “don’t work half the time,” Moore told the crowd. Predicting that the “wind bubble is about to burst,” Moore argued that we cannot rely on wind turbines for our power: “No matter how many are built, they won’t replace coal, gas, hydro or nuclear plants.” Moore is just the latest in a long line of experts who have been critical of McGuinty’s energy approach.

“Even the co-founder of Greenpeace is questioning the sustainability of Ontario’s wind industry,” said Thompson. “The public is concerned about the sustainability of wind turbines and we have another expert who agrees. The turbines work at only 25- to 35-per-cent capacity depending on time of day and weather. How can we rely on them? The Liberals are ignoring all the warning signs."

She said that families in Huron-Bruce are worried about their health, the value of their land, and the cost burden this is placing on the debt-ridden province. "There is no doubt that energy rates across the province are through the roof because of the McGuinty Liberals' costly energy experiments, and the massive subsidies paid out through the feed-in tariff (FIT) program.”

Thompson has advocated for the control of the placement of wind turbines to be returned to municipalities, which was taken away in the Green Energy Act. Last month, she tabled a motion calling for a moratorium on all wind energy projects until a comprehensive third-party health and environmental study has been completed.

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Saturday, January 07, 2012