Residents storm public meeting over future power plant

Residents storm public meeting over future power plant. Protesters speak up outside a community meeting Thursday night held by Greenfield South Power Corporation to address impacts of the 280-megawatt power plant on the Mississauga/Etobicoke border. Greenfield tried to limit the meeting to 50 people who live within 500 metres of the plant, claiming the construction effects would only impact those residents. Around 200 people, including Etobicoke residents from Markland Woods and One Sherway condominiums, showed up to make their concerns heard. Staff Photo/NOEL GRZETIC

The meeting was hosted by Greenfield South Power Corporation at Gramma's Banquet Hall in east Mississauga, to discuss current and planned activities on the construction site and the impact on the community. The company asked attendees to register in advance and tried to limit the number to 50 people who live within 500 metres of the construction site. This effectively cut out nearby Etobicoke residents from the meeting but many showed up in defiance anyway, determined to make their voices heard about the safety concerns of the 280-megawatt power plant on the Mississauga/Etobicoke border.

"This is not public consultation. This is not an honest approach to let the people who have concerns be heard," said Don Beggs, past president of Markland Woods Homeowners Association.

Frank Selecky, who owns a condo at One Sherway and can see the proposed site from his unit, said people in the towers had not been allowed to register because they did not meet the geographic proximity criteria.

As the doors opened, the makeshift security was unable to hold the crowds that gathered; soon everyone had pushed their way in and crowded the presentation room, bringing it to well over its 125 person capacity limit. When the crowd refused to disperse, company representatives called the police.

Dr. Bruce Holbein, environmental manager with Greenfield South, attempted to speak to the group. "This meeting we called because we're now in construction phase, and it's a process we initiated - it wasn't required," he said. "We wanted to liaise with the local community, the local community as would be affected by construction."

Efforts to control the room proved futile. Residents spoke out, asked questions, shouted and heckled Holbein. Most residents demanded to know why they were excluded from the meeting and what criteria was being used to determine who would be impacted by the plant. Holbein mentioned the initial environmental screening completed by his company in 2005, at which point many began vocally debating the credibility of that report. When asked about the current review initiated by the minister of environment in June, Holbein answered: "I can't speak for the ministry but I can tell you that we're co-operating with the ministry because they're revisiting certain aspects of this."

Police broke up the meeting after 20 minutes, sending everyone back outside without answers.

"I'm so disappointed - they know this is a contentious issue," said Etobicoke-Centre MPP Donnna Cansfield. "Public consultation is public consultation not selected consultation."

Coalition of Homeowners for Intelligent Power organizer, Greg Rohn, urged residents via megaphone that the plant was a political issue that people need to take up with their local representatives. In addition to Cansfield, Mississauga Ward 1 Councillor Jim Tovey, and Mississauga-South MPP Charles Sousa were in attendance, and although they were unable to bring order to the meeting, they did speak to residents in agreement with their concerns.

"I'm going to ask the minister of environment to put a stop order on the work until the review is completed. I'm going to do that first thing in the morning," said Cansfield.

Greenfield South stated on its website it planned a series of meetings to connect with local community. No mention of future meetings was made Thursday night but residents urged a larger space be found to accommodate all concerned residents.