To the Editor:

I recently wrote to CAW President Ken Lewenza regarding his stand on the turbine installation at the Education Centre and to Doris Dumais of the MOE who issued Certificates of Approval.  The attached are my letters.  There is also a protest march being organized for this Saturday (Dec. 3) at 10am from Aunt Mabel's Restaurant to the CAW.

Sir, (to Ken Lewenza, CAW President)

I made a point of congratulating and shaking Buzz Hargrove's hand (re his book) a few months ago at a local restaurant in Port Elgin. He and his wife were dining with Bob White and his wife. I mention this to you so that you will understand my appreciation for fair worker treatment through union efforts. I've had family relatives spend their entire working careers as CAW proud members.

This CAW Turbine has cast a black shadow that is troubling from so many sides. I know you have received ample contacts from numerous concerned folks. For the life of me, I can't understand why you and your executive are trying to bury legitimate individual queries. I always thought that union mottos and actions dealt exclusively with the "people". You need to be reminded that I breathe as well, that I contribute as well, that I'm a father and a grandfather as well and most importantly I MATTER. What, in God's name, has taken you so far away from this basic human protocol?

I can spew the detrimental effects/facts back to you but I would like to introduce to you a lady whose family, because of turbine induced illness, had to move away from their Ripley home to Kincardine. That is not a rumour nor is this a mirage. I could introduce you to another lady whose once sound sleeping patterns are now laced with numerous sleep interruptions because the noise wakes her up. This is not some line of B.S. but reality. It irks me to no end that you consider me and my community second class citizens. There is one sobering guarantee that no longer can be shuffled to the bottom of the deck: where turbines are constructed, ill health of varying degrees will follow.

Do you no longer have the passionate ability to step away from the 'greenback' and consider us? This whole episode reminds me of  'CLASS ACTION'. The big wigs in an auto industry were willing to produce a faulty car knowing that the profits would far outweigh any lawsuits.  Is this the attitude your executive and our government has adopted? There is no longer causal deniability by you, your executive, our government, the Sierra Club or any other organization that flies in the  direction of currency induced statements. I suppose you believe from your national chair that a small dot on the horizon, Port Elgin, does not garner equal consideration. You are WRONG!

Please don't respond to me if you have no more to say than dishing out more of your  tainted "platform".   I only expect equality from a union that breaths equal rights. Your deception concerning a viable alternate location has only increased the animosity within Port Elgin. You and your executive should be concerned that the reputation of the Education Centre, once considered a good corporate neighbour, is rapidly disintegrating. There are so many inequalities out there that the general population will curse and shrug their shoulders as their only response.

Your bull-headed insistence to proceed with this project, has propelled this community to another level. I don't know if you understand the fabric of a small community or not. Our general familiarity with each other is what makes any small town a great place to live. I have lived my life here and can unequivocally state that to breach this fabric is to be shunned.

I hope you have read the copy of my letter to Ken Lewenza.  If I had the chance, I would also invite you to personally shake the hand of victims whose lives have been changed because of turbine side effects.

Continued deniability of ill health just does not cut it when you stand in front of someone so effected not just from health repercussions, but from the trauma of leaving their homes, their families, their friends and their community. It is FACT.

I'm once again puzzled by the hesitancy of stopping this turbine. In reading MOE's discussion paper to modernize the approval system, the paper states it's desire to make industry development easier  while "protecting the public and the environment." Industrial Parks in our province have rules and regulations and yet industrial turbines appear to be exempt from said parameters. Why?

Did you know that the CAW has other property that could relieve my community's stress level by constructing there? Bullying and discrimination are hot topics in this country and our town is the new target.  I just don't understand why the weight of this controversy places our health in second place. Inaction from you clarifies that prospective. I'm expecting you to get it right!