April 29, 2009
MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS
RENEWABLE ENERGY

Mr. Ernie Hardeman: This afternoon, the Standing Committee on General Government will be meeting to make amendments to Bill 150, the so-called Green Energy Act. As our caucus has pointed out in this Legislature over the past two months, there are many, many parts of this bill that need to be corrected.

We all know that it's going to result in huge cost increases to the people and businesses across Ontario.

We support green energy and environmentally responsible solutions, but we need to be smart about how we do it. For instance, we need to ensure that we are not sacrificing the future of our agriculture industry by covering prime agricultural land with energy projects that could go to other locations.

We are not alone in this belief. In recent commentary, the president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture said, "OFA does not support solar farms that would take agricultural land out of food production." In a presentation to the standing committee, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario said that "ground-mount solar projects should not be permitted on class 1, 2 or 3 agricultural lands."

We believe in the importance and the future of our agriculture industry. That's why the PC caucus tabled an amendment to Bill 150 in committee today that restricts the installation of solar farms on prime agricultural land. If the government supports agriculture, this is the time to prove it. Vote to support our amendment and to protect agriculture by ensuring that solar farms cannot be located on prime agricultural lands in the province of Ontario.