Press Releases
Wilson: PCs Will Restore Local Decision Making
(Queen's Park Report - August 23, 2010) Voters across our riding will soon go to the polls to elect the people they want to serve on their town councils. While you won’t find me endorsing any local candidate, I believe that these campaigns matter. It is an opportunity to place your faith in the individuals who you believe will make the best decisions for your community. Unfortunately, the model of local government is at risk.
Since Dalton McGuinty was first elected Premier, we have seen a
disturbing trend in Ontario where the priorities of unelected and
unaccountable bureaucrats, managers and administrators are trumping
elected local governments. This is wrong.
We have all seen it happen, especially our locally elected councillors.
From conservation authorities to Places to Grow, to the Greenbelt and
the Green Energy Act, to a broken gas tax formula that picks winners and
losers based on whether a town owns a bus. These are examples of
provincial interference with a local communities’ power to make
decisions.
Just look at the Green Energy Act. It is not only causing electricity
prices to rise faster than a shuttle out of Kennedy Space Centre, it
also strips away planning authority from elected municipal governments
and transfers that power to faceless bureaucrats at the Ontario Power
Authority.
When he announced his decision to do this, Dalton McGuinty said,
“Municipalities will no longer be able to reject wind turbines, solar
panels, or bio-fuel plants because they don’t like them. We can’t allow
interests to oppose these simply because they don’t like them.”
I for one am fed up with Dalton McGuinty’s ‘Premier knows best’
attitude. Not only does he not trust us to raise our children right, he
also seems to believe that local councillors are so incompetent that
they don’t even know what’s best for their communities. What arrogance.
Earlier this month I attended a meeting of Grey County Council in Owen
Sound. It is one of the many local governments, including Simcoe
County, which voted to express serious concerns with giant industrial
wind farms being installed in their area. Despite these objections, the
province simply ploughed ahead with their plan to install these
turbines wherever they see fit. That is wrong.
To be clear, I have no objection to renewable energy. I simply believe
that it should only be built where it is welcomed and wanted and at
prices ratepayers can afford. That is why a Tim Hudak Progressive
Conservative government will restore the decision making powers that
Dalton McGuinty took from local councils. We will empower
municipalities to direct modern, affordable energy investments in their
communities.
To quote Tim Hudak from a recent speech he gave to Ontario
municipalities, “I believe the secret to good government comes from
respecting your partners, keeping your word, sticking to a budget, and
staying true to your principles – transparency, consistency, and
local-decision making power. That’s the kind of partner I will be.
It’s what I am offering to you today. And it is what I look forward to
offering the people of Ontario.”
So get out and vote on October 25, because under a Progressive
Conservative government, we will respect our partners on town councils
and the faith that you placed in them.