Oakville MPP says accuser is `out to lunch' Continued from page 1 3 · Wednesday, May 5, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com every single right that every single citizen and every single municipality in this province had to question whether or not a plant like this was sited in their municipality. Do you all know that? The reason you are here today is because your member, who was standing up for you today, and rightly so, did not stand up for you in August 2006," said Prue, during the Queen's Park session. "On that day, the issue wasn't about Oakville. No, the issue on that day was what was going to happen to the gas-fired power plant in the City of Toronto, in the Port Lands. I was accused by the member from Oakville of being "silly," of being "alarmist," for saying that things were going to happen in other municipalities down the road that he wasn't going to like." The allegation Prue makes is serious as the Town of Oakville is currently attempting to block a 900-megawatt gas-fired power plant from being established on the Ford-owned lands of 1500 Royal Windsor Dr. Prue contends Flynn's 2006 motion took away one more tool QUALITY INTEGRITY "When you look at the involvement the Town of Oakville has had in this to date, you can see there are ample opportunities for them and those opportunities will continue. The Town has been very active in this fight." n Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn the Queen's Park meeting." "I will tell you, Mr. Flynn, you can argue all you want. You might be right today, but you were absolutely wrong then and you owe every one of them an apology for your past actions." Flynn is offering no apology for his actions stating Prue is `out to lunch on this issue.' The OMB reforms, Flynn said, brought about by his motion on Aug. 30, 2006 made it so the OMB would treat towns, cities and applicants equally. Flynn said before this, development applicants were circumventing local councils and going direct- the Town could have used to fight the power plant and as a result has probably handed victory in the matter over to TransCanada. "What he is asking today, I agree with; I agree that this is an abomination, but the people of Oakville, through their legitimate council, the people of Oakville in their own right, should have had the ability to go to the OMB, should have had the ability to appeal, should have had the ability to decide whether or not this was an appropriate site and you have taken that away from them. Nothing you can do here today is going to ever give them that right back," said Prue, during VALUE ly to the OMB where their requests were being approved. The only part of the motion dealing with energy projects made public and private energy projects equal under the planning act. "For Michael to say that it excludes the towns or the cities from any involvement in the case is absolute rubbish," said Flynn. "When you look at the involvement the Town of Oakville has had in this to date, you can see there are ample opportunities for them and those opportunities will continue. The Town has been very, very active in this fight." Flynn chalked up Prue's attack to embarrassment that he hadn't done enough to protect his own community from a proposed power plant. "Mr. Prue was unable to stop the Portlands plant. It's my intent to stop the Oakville plant," said Flynn. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton is siding with Flynn on this issue stating Prue may have misunderstood what happened in 2006 as any power plant planning exemptions applied only to Toronto and nowhere else. "I'm not aware of anything MPP Flynn ever did to make it harder for Oakville to be able to protect the health and safety of our community. Oakville's position, upheld by the OMB, has consistently been that the proposed power plant is subject to full municipal and planning approvals. We've passed an interim control bylaw in order to study and implement the appropriate criteria for power generation facilities in the town," said Burton. "The 2006 matter referred to by Mr. Prue at the Provincial Legislature contained references to specific sections of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, to an exempting provision in the Planning Act that was passed in 2006. That provision exempts energy undertakings from the provisions of the Planning Act, and from the zoning and site plan powers of the City of Toronto, if the Province enacts a specific regulation to that effect. "The Province has not passed such a regulation regarding the proposed power plant in Oakville, and we continue to exercise our full approval rights under the Planning Act and the Municipal Act, 2001." 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