HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-03-11, Page 10r
10 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Huron County Has a New Families plan to proceed with
Medical Officer Of Health turnbine Charter challenge
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
have been brought to Divi-
sional Court and was without
merit. The Drennan's decision
to proceed with the motion
resulted in a considerable
expense to K2, the legal docu-
ments say.
Shawn Drennan said he
believes the request for
$340,000 in legal costs is an
attempt by the wind companies
to run the appellants out of
money and stop the legal pro-
ceeding as quickly as possible.
"I think they're trying to
bankrupt us," he told The Sun
Times Thursday.
McKee said the appellants
have already spent about
$700,000, before court costs,
on the so-called "Charter chal-
lenge," which claims the prov-
ince's process for granting
wind farm approvals violates
the residents' right to security
of the person guaranteed by
the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms.
The four families named as
appellants in the case are each
supported by an anti -wind
farm community group.
HALT has objected to the
approval of a proposed 92 -tur-
bine Armow wind farm near
Kincardine. Meanwhile,
SWEAR (Safe Wmd Energy for
All Residents) has opposed a
140 -turbine K2 project near
Goderich and HEAT (Huron
East Against Turbines) is back-
ing
acking opposition to the 15 -tur-
bine St. Columban wind farm
near Seaforth.
The province's approval of
each of the wind farms was
Submitted
Dr. Janice Owen will
become the permanent
Acting Medical Officer of
Health (MOH) with the
Huron County Health Unit
as of April 7, 2015. MOHs
are in an acting capacity
until they complete the
province's requirements
for specialized public
health courses.
Dr. Owen has been a
physician for over 30
years, including time in
Huron County. She is the
Medical Advisor for the
OTN Telehomecare pro-
gram. She is also a
regional primary care lead
with Cancer Care Ontario.
Tyler Hessel, Chair of
the Board of Health says
they are pleased to wel-
come Dr. Owen to the
Health Unit. "Dr. Owen's
vast experience and her
interest in rural health
makes her a great fit for
our county."
The MOH position has
been filled with temporary
MOH coverage since
November 2013.
Submitted
Dr. Janice Owen will become the Acting MOH with Huron County
Health Unit as of April, 2015.
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Falconer LLP, which is rep-
resenting the Drennan, Ryan,
Dixon and Kroeplin appel-
lants, is asking the court to
reject the request.
The law firm, according to
court documents, says the costs
should not be awarded because
the issues raised by the appel-
lants in Divisional Court "were
of fundamental importance to
the public interest as a chal-
lenge to the constitutionality of
legislation that appears on its
face to expose citizens to a rea-
sonable prospect of serious
harm to their health."
It also argues the award
would create a crippling finan-
cial loss to the families and
undermine access to justice.
The wind companies,
according to court documents,
say the "anti -wind advocates"
knew and understood the
potential cost consequences of
litigating a Divisional Court
appeal but decided to proceed
anyway. The firms say the
appellants should not be able
to shield themselves from cost
exposure on the basis that this
was "public interest" litigation,
as that argument was rejected
in a previous appeal. The com-
panies also say their requests
for costs are reasonable and
the appellants have the means
to pay.
K2 Wind, which is seeking
costs from Shawn and Tricia
Drennan, also says a motion
by the appellants for a stay
pending appeal should never
appealed to the Environmental
Review Tribunal. In each case,
the ERT dismissed the appeals.
At the ERT, the onus is on
the appellants to show the
renewable energy project will
cause serious harm to human
health or serious irreversible
harm to animal or plant life or
the environment.
The tribunals each ruled the
appellants had failed to do so.
It also ruled that considering a
Charter question related to
security of person is outside of
the ERT's jurisdiction.
After the ERT decisions were
issued, the three cases were
joined to be heard together as
appeals at Divisional Court late
last year. The panel of judges
found the ERT did not make an
error in the way it dealt with
the families' claims.
The groups are now hoping
the Ontario Court of Appeals
will consider the Charter ques-
tion and whether the ERT's
"serious harm threshold" vio-
lates the precautionary princi-
ple set out in Canada's Envi-
ronmental Protection Act to
prevent harm even when not
all evidence is in.
Donations and more
information on the appel-
lants' case can be found at
www.halt-safe.ca.
"Basically what we're
fighting is setbacks. It's not
necessarily an anti -wind
movement. It's that the set-
backs aren't appropriate to
protect the health and safety
of people," McKee said in a
January interview.
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