www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Wednesday, October 9, 2013 | 4 Flynn calls cancellation costs `unacceptably large' continued from p.1 The Oakville plant was cancelled following numerous public demonstrations by residents who voiced safety and pollution-related concerns about the facility being located so close to homes and schools. Oakville Liberal MPP Kevin Flynn said the OPA and the auditor general used different accounting principles to reach their totals, but declined to comment on which, in his opinion, produced the correct number. That said, Flynn described the settlement as "unacceptably large," but argued he did his job as MPP by bringing residents' concerns to the government. "I'm not apologizing for the OPA or the negotiators," said Flynn. "It became clearly evident over time that the concerns of the people of Oakville were valid and legitimate and it was up to the government then to move those plants elsewhere. There was a cost attached to that. My concern was the plant not be built in Oakville... I think the recommendations that have been brought forward with the advice of Oakville citizens will preclude this from ever happening again." Flynn said the Province is asking municipalities to include a provision for power when they are formulating their Official Plans. Flynn said, the Province intends to limit the power of political staff in the negotiation process on third-party contracts. The MPP said Premier Kathleen Wynne inherited the power plant issue and has dealt with it appropriately by calling for the auditor general's report, suggesting a select committee be formed and releasing more than 160,000 documents. He said the Province is working to offset the cost of the power plant cancellations. "Our green energy contract with Samsung -- we've been able to reduce that over the same 20-year period by $3.7 billion," said Flynn. "We've also relaxed the domestic content rules for solar and wind projects in the Province and that has allowed us to save $1.9 billion over 20 years." Not everyone is as optimistic about getting taxpayer money back with Halton's Conservative MPP Ted Chudleigh stating even he didn't expect the final costs to be so high. "I'm very upset," he said. "Obama at an arm's-length agency, which produced an ultimately indefensible decision. We responded to that decision by following due process and the law... I still hope the Legislature will fix the process once they can't waste time anymore arguing about whose estimate is correct." Frank Clegg, former head of the Oakville residents' group Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA), which fought the power plant said TransCanada, the company charged with building the power plant, should never have been allowed to get as far along with the project as it did."The numbers keep changing, but our message has not changed from Day One. The cost should have been zero because this plant should never have been sited at that location," said Clegg. "What's really frustrating is after all that hard work we are still no closer to having anything to prevent the next plant from being sited as poorly as this one. It's very frustrating to see everyone write about the numbers on this one and nobody is saying, `we could have another $5 billion if we do this five more times.' No party is talking about stopping this from happening again." On Oct. 7, 2010, Brad Duiguid, former Ontario minister of energy, shakes hands with Mayor Rob Burton while Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, smiles as they announce a gas plant would not built anywhere in Oakville or the GTA. | Oakville Beaver file photo went to the people and raised about $900 million. That's what his campaign cost to become president of the U.S. He raised nearly $1 billion and became the most powerful man in the world. The provincial Liberals spent about the same amount to win two seats in the Ontario Legislature." Chudleigh said this level of misused taxpayer money cannot simply be laid at the feet of former Premier Dalton McGuinty arguing Wynne's fingerprints are all over this. "We need an election," he said. "This government has no respect for taxpayer dollars. None." Oakville Mayor Rob Burton weighed in on the matter during a recent speech before council at Town Hall. "What matters now surely is how everyone can be protected from such dangerous and ultimately costly decisions in the future," said Burton. "That decision four years ago to put a power plant in a place so dangerous was caused by a bad process Fine cabinetry for anywhere in your home. 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