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2 - Orono Weekly Times Subscriptions $38.09 + $1.91 GST = $40.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Aid to Publishers - Canada Periodical Fund toward our mailing costs." Wednesday, December 8, 2010 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Roxanne Johnston Classified/Sports - Sue Weigand The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Wind energy at what cost? by Graham Hawkridge, City of Kawartha Lakes The main opposition to all Nuclear power has nearly always come from and will continue to be centered around the educated, well fed and financially secure middle class. When was the last time you saw a hungry-looking anti-nuclear protestor, or a poor man in small town Ontario, protesting against the establishment of a nuclear energy power plant? Your right, you won't, as the well educated and urban upper middle class of society infringes on everyone else's rights, they demand that wind energy be the new wave of creating our use of electricity. All gets ignored, for this new "Green Wave" consideration. Because governments paid lip service to this segment of our society for the last several years, it is directly responsible for the increase in global carbon levels by ignoring the fact that we needed to increase our level of electrical supply. Now that we appear to be on McGuinty's Green bandwagon, the price of building nuclear power stations today has risen dramatically. Even so, nuclear and hydro dams still remain our best and cheapest option for delivering reliable and reasonably priced hydro, 24/7. Continuing to deploy industrial wind turbines (IWT), against all economic sense and rural residents health concerns, makes no sense whatsoever, and should be stopped before proceeding any further down this dead end road. It doesn't seem to matter to this Liberal government that your electric utility bill could put you in the poorhouse, or ensure that many rural families could be cooking by candlelight, and doing laundry after bedtime, of course not, it's Dalton McGuinty's new Green Wave. Funny as it isn't! No one in this newer greener Ontario has stopped for a minute to calculate where this excessive cost of electricity is going to end, except seniors and the less fortunate, who now dread winter for more than its cold weather. This province originally started out with hydro, very reasonably priced electricity, that was supplied to us by the now 100 year old facilities at Niagara Falls and other dams around Ontario, which as time has passed has seen the added installation of Nuclear power plants that also produced reasonably priced hydro, and supplied it 24/7. Now we're inundated with scientists and their science, telling us the planet is warming and we must lower our carbon output, at all costs. Enter the IWT, born in Denmark and said to be their savior of the future, not so, they now say! Costs of production subsidies have risen dramatically, with Danes now entering the streets in anguish and violence, pointing at their governments and saying, enough is enough, drop the subsidy costs, our electricity bills must come down. This has been echoed all over Europe now, as supercharged electricity bills were getting out of hand, never mind that health issues became a major problem for governments as wind corporations just spun tall tales and said their machines were not a problem. The Danes are now speaking out, just like Ontarians, and are demanding that their governments follow Australia, France and elsewhere, in having independent health studies carried out, and set backs increased to safer margins. Most countries' governments are now questioning the wisdom of deploying wind turbines as costs are a huge factor in attracting new corporate businesses and also push established businesses elsewhere. Electricity plays a huge role in any manufacturing process and this cannot, and must not, be underestimated when seeking new electrical power sources. Not one country has eliminated the coal plant, said to be the largest contributor of carbon, and as governments insisted on more turbines, they too built more coal power plants to back up the new wondrous wind turbines. Not one government has considered the huge problem of more senior and less financially secure citizens! They espouse that help through their local municipalities will be made available to those who meet certain criteria. Yet, Canada's government pension plan is already at or below the accepted poverty level, but this provincial government didn't even consider this problem before it announced its Green Energy Act; no, it waited until people realized they were having problems paying their utility bill just recently. Makes one wonder what seniors and other low income earners will do when the S.M.A.R.T. meters start running on real time doesn't it! Apples & orphanages To the Editor: You have beautifully tied in the messages of the end of growing apples for us, the availability of apple firewood and the cause of Operation Dominican Republic and the orphanage. We have had some sales of wood, some offers of help for cutting up the trees, and a lot of interest in this orphanage. All are still available! You did a great! Thanks! The Sikmas and Rypstras Staying in Touch MPP John O'Toole Citizens Want Completion of Highway 407 Citizens and elected representatives from across Durham Region visited Queen's Park last week to ask the McGuinty government not to stop Highway 407 in North Oshawa. It was my privilege to participate in the Hwy. 407 news conference at Queen's Park and to speak on this issue in the Legislature last Tuesday, Nov. 30. The historic hamlet of Columbus is closest to the proposed terminus of Highway 407 at Simcoe St. N. The hamlet would be hit hard by traffic congestion and the disruption of the community's way of life. However, halting the high- way at Simcoe St. N. is also unfair to many communities such as Port Perry and communities near Hwy. 7A as well as Tyrone. Also, there will be continued uncertainty for property owners. This government should recognize the future of Durham, including the anticipated impacts of projects such as new and refurbished nuclear facilities as well as traffic around the Energy-FromWaste development. The Region of Durham estimates the costs of roads and upkeep associated with staged construction of the highway would add about 10 per cent to the annual tax bills from O'TOOLE see page 10