Monthly Archives: April 2009

04.22.09
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Required viewing for Mayor Cliff Barwick

Thanks to Richard Patton of Mississauga for comments and link to a wonderful video with Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion and Rick Mercer.

I returned home Friday.My laptop computer was fritzed while in Florida, so I had to get up to speed.I got caught up on city hall politics & then receive the attached Rick Mercer video.
Worhtwhile seeing & remembering for future upcoming elections
The mayor of St. Thomas should see this.
May entice him to resign so the city can get with it! (instead of wasting time and taxpayers` money travelling to Japan, it would have been much wiser to have travelled to Pittsburg, PA. to see how that city has recovered from the loss of it`s industrial base to a booming entity.
I remember (when moving to Mississauga in the mid 1960`s). it was an area of small villages and towns. Shows what competent leadership can do.
Watch video

04.21.09
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St. Thomas council minutes for April 14-09

Minutes from the St. Thomas council meeting of April 14, 2009
st-thomas-council-minutes-apr-14-09 Click here

04.21.09
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Going green without disrupting the environment

w-wind-turbines-cp-5839706
While there is growing commercial interest in green energy, aspiring wind producers — ranging from international industrial-sized operations to small co-operatives — still face a host of regulatory hurdles in Canada, including a gauntlet of environmental assessments, municipal bylaws, requirements of electric utilities and the demands of community activists that differ from province to province.

Although Canada’s Constitution Act does not consider wind to be a natural resource as it does with forests, water or minerals — nobody can claim to own the wind-it does give the responsibility for electricity to the provinces, all of which have taken different approaches.

Full story

04.20.09
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Oegema Turkey Farms, an Elgin county success story

Oegema Turkey Farms, Talbotville

Oegema Turkey Farms, Talbotville


Sales of whole and processed turkey products at the farm store run by Mike and Wayne Oegema, in Elgin county, have increased both annually and in month-to-month comparisons, reports Better Farming.

But Oegema Turkey Farms Inc. is going to cut back production by 2,000 birds from the 55,000 they normally raise annually.

Full story

04.20.09
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14 Things You Probably Never Considered About Making Trucks More Efficient

freightliner-truck

After three days’ discussion by trucking suppliers, OEMs, drivers, and industry experts, the technological potential for drastic trucking efficiency gains—as well as the complexity of the barriers preventing their adoption—has never been clearer.
Full story

04.19.09
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Culture Minister Aileen Carroll also missing in action in London

Culture Minister Aileen Carroll

Culture Minister Aileen Carroll


Posted by Ian:
St. Thomas doesn’t have the exclusive market on the antics of the short-sighted Aileen Carroll. On his new blog, Ken Wightman wonders:

Who would allow beautiful, historic Middletown House, overlooking the Thames River in west London, to sit empty, unmaintained, decaying? Answer: the Province of Ontario. But, they do have a plan, Queen’s Park applied for a demolition permit.

Full story

04.19.09
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GreenField Ethanol’s facility in Chatham will get up to $72.8 million in federal funding

GreenField Ethanol's Chatham facility

GreenField Ethanol's Chatham facility


A major corn-based ethanol plant operating in Ontario since 1998 will get up to $72.8 million in federal funding from an incentive program for renewable fuel production.

Local MP Dave van Kesteren on Friday announced the funding from the federal government’s ecoEnergy for Biofuels program for GreenField Ethanol’s facility at Chatham, Ont.

Full story

04.18.09
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Speaking Truth to Wind Power

Erie Shores Wind Farm

Erie Shores Wind Farm


by Michael Trebilcock
ScienceAndPublicPolicy.org

The Green Energy Act (Bill 150), now before the Ontario Legislature, is designed to expedite this process by taking planning responsibilities away from local municipalities like ours and remitting key decisions to subsequent ministerial regulations, leaving local residents no say in matters that will dramatically impact their lives and future generations. While we are obviously personally affected by this legislation, the following comments reflect a professional career studying economic regulation, including a year as Research Director of the Ontario Government’s Electricity Market Design Committee (1998). I have four major objections to the legislation.
Full story

04.18.09
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Ethanol ‘disaster’ risk for boats

Posted by Ian:
Have posted info on this in the past, but growing evidence that ethanol use in marine engines, generators and off-road vehicles poses hazards. And now more documentation, this time from Sydney, Australia …

Ethanol blend fuel poses a risk for boat owners and is “potentially disastrous” for any vessels that use petrol fuel tanks more than a few years old, industry experts say.

Government and industry adviser Gary Fooks said the blended fuel might be all right for 60 per cent of cars but was a “no-no” for 99 per cent of boats.
Full story