HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1975-02-19, Page 3ee. FCi
Ontario wants
you to get
your fair share
of $375 million
Tax credits
Thousands of Ontario residents will share in this year's
Tax Credits. Make sure you get .your fair share.
To apply, you must file both a Federal Income Tax form
(even if you don't pay income tax) and the Ontario Tax
Credit form which comes with it.
Any questions? You may, free of charge, dial "0" and
ask the operator for Zenith 8-2000. Residents within the
Metro Toronto local calling area should dial 965-8470.
Ontario's f 1; William DaVis, Prerniet
Atthur Medri, Minister of Ilevenue
Stla re TAX CREDIT SYSTEM
rHH7518
mr;
445
I
nto tower route
Murray Gaunt calls for Hydro inquiry
Murray Gaunt, Liberal M.T,P
for Huron-Bruce, has called upon
the Minister of Energy to institute
an immediate public inquiry into
the proposed Bradley-George-
town hydro transmission route.
"The Provincial Government
plans to expand facilities at the
5ruce Nuclear Power Plant to
provide hydro-electric power to
the Toronto market. This would
incur capital costs of many
Millions of dollars, and necessi-
tates numerous and heavier
transmission lines across prime
agricultural and scenic areas of
South-Western Ontario. These
plans completely negate hydra's
stated priority of locating all
generating stations close to major
load centres. Also the proposed
routing of the primary trans-
mission line, and the secondary
"security" or back-up line cover a
distance of 150 miles, which at an
approximate estimated cost of a
half to one million dollars per
mile, depending on the terrain,
means an expenditure of up to
$150 million.
"Hydro's long range plans
have not been publicly discussed,
but it is clear that . they • are
planning a programme to estab-
lish generating stations around
the Western perimeter of the
Province. Obviously, hydro made
plans, held superficial hearings -
merely going through the motions
of public and democratic partici-
pation - and then simply
proceeded to do, with Cabinet
approval, exactly what it had
intended to do from the outset.'
The Bradley-Georgetown trans-
mission route is inappropriate
and illogical because the primary
market for Bruce power should be
the Kitchener-Waterloo area,
with any back-up line for Toronto
being routed via Owen Sound,
Collingwood, etc., linking up with
the already established • Essa-
Kleinburg corridor, and serving
the markets en route.
"The Government has given
much emphasis to the Solandt
Commission Report, of which a
very curious aspect is the fact that
Dr, Solandt chose to ignore
completely . the expert, neutral.
and highly expensive report of his
environmental consultants, Bruce
Howlett Inc., which recom-
Give
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insurance Corporation
Member Canada Deposit Rm
and
tkutt COIti1p y Sfi•idt i bba
W,W,CotiSint, Manager
lAtoweli- Ontario
mended that the Escarpment be
crossed at Rattlesnake Point,
permitting the Kitchener-
Waterloo line to be routed via the
401 crossing. It would seem the
consulting engineer's report was
changed to be acceptable to
Hydro. The question is - why?
"Although the Nanticoke-
Pickering transmission corridor
was extensively studied, this was
not the case with the Bradley-
Georgetown route. In July 1974,
former Minister of Energy 'Darcy
McKeough said approval of the
Southern' 500 IV transmission
corridor. between Bruce and
.Georgetown via Kitchener was
being withheld pending review of
the long range plan for Ontario
Hydro. Nothing more was heard
until January 1975 when the new
chairman of Ontario Hydro,
Robert Taylor, announced blue-
prints outlining the expansion of
North America's second largest
electric utility would not be
changed. Obviously, hydro
officials intended from the
beginning that the Escarpment
should be crossed at Limehouse,
beside Georgetown, and serious
consideration has never been
*given to the Bruce-Essa, route,
with Essa-Kleinburg as a
"security" line, involving only
one crossing of the Escarpment at
the 401. The Essa-Kleinburg line
has a capacity of 6,000 megawatts
with the present single-string
towers and doable-string towers
through this corridor would give a
capacity of 18,000 megawatts.
"The Government's planned
hydro corridors have a potential
of 70,000 to 80,000 megawatts,
while today's over-all needs for
the entire province are between
12,000 and 13,000 megawatts.
Approximately 4,000 megawatts
are now being consumed in the
Golden Horseshoe area, so the
proposed new hydro lilies repre-
sent a twentyfold increase in
power to this region. If the
Government insists on allowing
hydro to proceed with the current
proposals, both will be guilty of
an incredible waste of taxpayers'
money, of arrogantly and
unnecessarily taking over many
acres of prime agricultural land,
and of facilitating the provision of
an excessive amount of hydro-
electric power to the Toronto
region, encouraging increased
industrialization and intensifying
the already serious problems of
over-centralization in this area.
"We need an immediate public
inquiry into the Bradley-
Georgetown line for two reasons.
First, there has been no oppor-
tunity to challenge in the public
forum the in-house study of
hydro, who should be required to
state publicly what they are doing
and why. No new transmission
corridors should be cut until a full
study has been made, and
alternative exisiting corridors
should , be completely utilized.
Second, Hydro officials have
completely failed to justify the
Bradley-Georgetown line,
according to their own stated
criteria. Fat example, in the East.
Garafraxa-Erin area, they have
chosen the route, which, of two
possible alternatives, covers more
miles of right-of-way, uses more
than twice as many acres of class
one and two agricultural land,
affects twice as many water
courses,100 more acres of wooded
land and diagonally severs 16
more properties.
,"The former , Minister of
Energy has indicated that while
the short-term security of the
system is more than adequate,
long-term needs may - may call
for a brand new corridor. Yet
hydro is giving top priority to
Mr. and Mrs. Doug Pipe, each
26 years old and Mr. and Mrs.
Robert McCutcheon, 35 and 34 on
two snowmobiles plunged into the
icy water left exposed by a
pressure crack in Lake Temiska-
ming. •
Both couples are from the
New Liskeard area. The Pipes are
pushing this line through now,
probably because they know that
in the near future they will find
this line impossible to obtain
because of , environmental
considerations and public outcry
for the preservation of good
agricultural land. In the mean-
time they are destroying this vital
agricultural land, distrupting the
ecology and upsetting property
owners all the way along the line,
"I have called upon the
Minister of Energy to institute a
public enquiry - and without
delay. If he does not agree to do
so, he will be abdicating his
responsibilities."
Remember! It takes but a
moment to place a Brussels Post
Want Ad and be money in pocket.
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887-6641.
survived by his parents, Robert
and Phyllis Pipe and a three year
old daughter. The McCutcheons
had two. young sons. He was on
the Haileybury O.P.P. detatch-
ment.
The Pipes are cousins of Miss
Mae Skelton and the Pipe families
of Brussels area.
Relatives killed in
snowmobile accident
'Ti4E, BRUSSELS P6STri. 'FEBRUARY 194 1975