Simcoe —While the McGuinty government’s re-negotiated Samsung deal does nothing to slow massive wind towers marching on Haldimand-Norfolk, it does increase the amount the province is paying for each job promised to be created by the Korean consortium.
Yesterday, the Minister of Energy announced a scaling back of the costly Samsung secret deal that would see the province paying $6 billion for a promised 900 short-term jobs down from $9 billion for a supposed 16,000 jobs just two years ago. That means that the province is now paying $6.7 million for each job that may or may not be created.
“We have been telling anyone who would listen since the inception of the Green Energy Act that the government’s green gamble would fail to come close to the touted jobs promised by the legislation or the subsequent Samsung sweetheart agreement,” Barrett stated. “Now that government has finally come to the realization that we are paying way to much for way too little, they are tweaking the agreement to ensure we are paying even more for the per job for positions that still may or may not ever materialize.”
The announcement has left more unanswered questions – even for the Minister himself who refused to answer when asked if government was moving away from wind energy. He also couldn’t explain how much Samsung is being paid per kilowatt hour to produce energy in Ontario, nor could he explain how the government came to their touted $24 in ratepayer savings on future energy bills.
“This is a case of far too little, far too late – the damage of skyrocketing electricity bills, rural turbine intrusion on unwilling hosts, and lost jobs has already taken hold,” concluded Barrett. “Let’s not forget that we are losing upwards of 600 jobs at our Nanticoke coal plant, while industrial wind towers invade.”
While the Minister has said that future wind energy deals with Samsung will have to seek municipal approval, it will do nothing to halt the onslaught of turbines in our area.
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