POWER PLANT RALLY at QUEEN’S PARK, Tuesday, March 2
Dear members and supporters of the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights,
Please make every effort to attend a very important rally that is being organized by Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA). Demonstrate your opposition to the proposed power plant this Tuesday at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Buses are transporting citizens to the rally.
The Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights is a supporter of C4CA and we encourage people to join its activities and donate to its expenses.
It’s not too late to stand up and be counted as the power plant is not a done deal and can be stopped with continued community action and political pressure. Please do everything you can to let Premier McGuinty know of your concern for air quality, health and safety and the natural environment.
The following is information from C4CA about the upcoming peaceful protest rally:
POWER PLANT RALLY at QUEEN’S PARK
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
780 University Ave, north of Wellesley Ave, Toronto
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 @ 12:00 noon
Register on-line by 5 pm Sunday to reserve your seat on the bus:
http://www.c4ca.org/rally-on-march-2
QUEEN’S PARK! HERE WE COME!
Join your community and others for a peaceful mass Rally at Queen’s Park on Tuesday March 2nd 2010 at 12noon. We need to keep the pressure on the McGuinty government – there are real concerns about the province’s plans for gas-fired power plants. We need our government to do its job and protect us. The process for evaluating potential sites is flawed. There are no standards or regulations on setbacks or air emissions. On a local level, the Oakville site just does not make good sense – health and safety are at risk. It is too close to homes and schools and the Clarkson-Oakville airshed in the area is already overtaxed.
C4CA will be providing free bus transportation to and from Queen’s Park that day. Choose your pickup location from the options below. Please be at your location by 10:15am. Buses will leave at 10:30am, and will return to Oakville and Clarkson at about 2pm. A certain number of buses have been allocated to each location, corresponding to available parking. Please choose another location if your first choice becomes unavailable. We reserve the right to make adjustments to accommodate interest and demand.
You must register for a seat on one of the buses so that we know that you are looking for a ride! Due to the overwhelming response, we are extending the bus registration deadline to Sunday February 28th at 5pm. Please be sure to register by then!
Bring signs. Bring noisemakers. Dress for the weather. The Rally itself will run roughly for an hour or so, starting about 11:30am, with the formal program starting at noon. Washrooms are extremely limited.
We are really excited to have students attend with the community. While we cannot provide supervision, and they do have to take a day off school, there will be lots of C4CA marshals to guide the crowd, including one on each bus. We are telling high school students that they must have a parent’s permission to take the time off school, and must sign out as is required. Elementary school students are also welcome to attend, but they must be accompanied by a parent. For most of the public schools, this is not a school-sanctioned event. However, we think it is a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in an important community issue, and to experience a lesson first hand in civics, and environmental issues.
The bus will let everyone off right at Queen’s Park and pickup will be from the exact same spot about an hour or so later.
High School students will be given 2 volunteer hours for attending the Rally.
Bus Pick-Up Locations
1. Oakville Place Shopping Centre
Trafalgar and the QEW
*Southeast Corner of Parking Lot
2. Canlan Ice Sports (THIS LOCATION NOW FULL)
2300 Cornwall Rd (at Ford Drive)
3. Ontario Racquet Club (ORC)
884 Southdown Rd (at Royal Windsor Drive) Mississauga
4. Dorval Crossing East Shopping Centre
(formerly Town Centre)
PM 2.5 is a toxic pollutant that is discharged into the air by gas-fired power plants. Children are particularly susceptible. If the Ontario Government has its way due to a flawed planning process, they are proposing to put one of the largest gas-fired power plants in Canada within 320 metres of a school and 400 metres of homes. Over 11,000 homes and 16 schools sit within 3,000 metres. This sets a terrible precedent for all of Ontario and the good news is that it’s not too late to stop it.