The proponent, Swift River Energy Limited, was formed solely to pursue construction of the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls. It was originally owned by John Wildman and Paul Fisher, then later ownership of the proponent included Tony Zwig and Ian Baines.
Ian Baines was the only one who claimed to have hydro-electric generating station experience (which helped the proponent get awarded Applicant of Record Status), but he soon left to pursue other opportunities such as forming Windstream Energy LLC and Windstream Wolfe Island Shoals Inc. to pursue installing wind turbines in Lake Ontario. As such off-shore wind turbines could have negative environmental effects, in 2011 the province declared a moratorium for off-shore wind turbines. One environmental concern is that parts of the Lake Ontario lake bed were contaminated by the oil refineries and storage tanks that used to be on Toronto’ waterfront (some old oil storage tanks are still there), and vibrations from wind turbines would stir-up this pollution, which would then be drawn into the intake pipes for Toronto’s drinking water.
Ian got tired of waiting for the government to determine what the negative environmental impacts if his proposed project could be, and since he had a US-based investor, decided to join many others who have figured out that using the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement is usually a more successful way to sue the Canadian Federal government.
The end result is that a NAFTA tribunal ruled that the Canadian federal government had to pay Ian Baines and his company $28M, which was actually paid by the Ontario government.
That is, the Liberal’s bungling of Ontario’s energy file results in developers earning money for not doing anything:
- The proponents of the proposed Oakville and Mississauga natural gas powered generating stations received over $1B from Ontario taxpayers for not developing anything.
- Ian Baines’ company received $28M from Ontario taxpayers for not developing anything.
And now Tony Zwig is threatening to sue the Ontario government for a proposed project which his company refuses to show they could operate safely.
The proponent has hired lobbyists to scare Doug Ford into believing the government could be successfully sued for $100M – this would be impossible, as the most payable would be costs incurred, which are far less.
Developers doing business with governments on controversial proposed projects know the projects may ultimately not be approved. It should not be the taxpayers that pay when such proposed projects are determined to not be in the public’s interest.