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NEWS: Oshawa rejects Harper-backed ethanol plant on Lake Ontario

Conservative MP Colin Carrie, finance minister Jim Flaherty, OPA chair Gary Valcour (r-l)/ Photo credit: Oshawa Express

Conservative MP Colin Carrie, finance minister Jim Flaherty, OPA chair Gary Valcour (r-l)/ Photo credit: Oshawa Express

DurhamRegion.com reports, “A new poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians finds resistance to an ethanol plant being built on Oshawa’s waterfront.” The key finding is that 55.1 per cent somewhat or strongly disapproved of the 12-storey plant being located on Oshawa’s waterfront on Lake Ontario, with just 28.5 per cent saying they strongly or somewhat approved. “Mark Calzavara, regional organizer for the Council of Canadians, said his organization decided to look into the issue after being requested to do so by members in Oshawa. ‘We have a campaign about the Great Lakes in general and a key part of that is communities having a greater say about what happens in their community as far as industrial infrastructure,’ he said, adding that last summer the organization’s national chairperson Maude Barlow wrote a letter to the federal government opposing the plant. …Oshawa Port Authority chairman Gary Valcour dismissed the poll.” Valcour is a past president of federal finance minister Jim Flaherty’s riding association in Oshawa-Whitby. In fact, the Harper government appointed five of the seven members of the Oshawa Port Authority (which approved the ethanol plant).

Last summer, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow wrote, “Several aspects of the proposed ethanol plant contradict the notion of the Great Lakes Commons including the importance of public participation and a program for wetlands protection. …I urge the Federal Government to withdraw any consent and withhold any further consideration to establish an ethanol plant on Crown land at the Oshawa Harbour until the concerns of the community are adequately considered.”

The news article can be read at http://www.durhamregion.com/news/business/article/1522791–new-poll-finds-opposition-to-ethanol-plant-being-located-at-oshawa-waterfront. Five blogs on this issue can be read at http://canadians.org/blog/?s=%22oshawa%22+%2B+%22ethanol%22.