Doug Ford spoke in Bala on February 27, 2018 when he was campaigning for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The video is on Facebook here, a copy is here, and the full transcript is below …
Friends, I’m here today in Bala, speaking with local residents, about the impact of this Liberal government’s disastrous, disastrous plans to put a privately-owned green energy power plant. I’ve spoken to numerous residents, local residents, who have serious concerns with this development.
Friends, what I’m seeing here today is extremely, extremely troubling. This location is critical to the entire Muskoka watershed, a Canadian and economic treasure. It is troubling to see the Liberal government has forced this project on the local community that is firmly against it.
And I see this no matter where I go in Ontario, the local people, the grassroots people, don’t have a say. My government is going to listen to the local people, the grassroots people. It’s not about the political insiders and the establishment. The good people of this region do not want this project, and it’s not in the public interest. This is not about green energy, we can talk about this green energy file all day long. This is about the surplus energy being constructed on public land for private profit. Friends, we have a lot of smart people in this area right now, looking at these energy policies. Look into these policies, it’s about making money. That’s what this is all about. It’s not about getting more green energy, that’s a farce because we are all environmentally friendly. I’m environmentally friendly, but it comes down to making money.
The Township of Muskoka calls itself an unwilling host, this situation is completely unacceptable, I met some local Councillors, local representatives here today. Projects like Bala and privatizing hydro cost this province and taxpayers billions of dollars. And they always worry about where they’re getting money from, if, again, the energy policies are costing billions of dollars, for very few people, not the grassroots people.
Projects like this, these are why people of Ontario are being forced to choose between heating and eating.
As my team has travelled across Ontario, there’s people, truly, choosing between paying their hydro bills and putting food on their table.
My friends, this project is another example of a long list of Liberal pet projects that would cost this province dearly. Projects like this are hurting our province and costing taxpayers billions of dollars, all to benefit the political insiders, the political elites that have been running this province for years.
Local residents have been kept in the dark, that’s not uncommon for this government is to keep everything a secret, portray that they’re something that they aren’t. Kathleen Wynne preaches about the environment, but then she gets her buddies making billions of dollars, which is unacceptable.
And the other thing we’re going to look into, we going to look into who is making donations to whose campaigns, and you connect the dots. And I’m sure that when you connect the dots, we’ll come up with the answer.
We have no idea what the environmental impacts of this project will be. The province’s own scientific experts are recommending the opposite of what’s happening here in Muskoka. The experts are telling the government not to choke the Muskoka watershed, and do not over-develop it.
But for some reason, the province is doing the exact opposite, go back to my earlier comments why they’re doing the opposite.
This tells me there’s a serious problem here. This project stinks of political interest and insider deals. When I am Premier, I want to know who is benefitting from this project and at what cost to local residents and the local environment.
The public deserves to know how much money the people behind this project are making, and the total cost of this project that, again, has been a big secret. Ontarians deserve to know who has been influenced, and we’ll get down to the bottom of who is being influenced.
As Premier, I will conduct a full investigation into this project, and make sure the local residents are armed with the facts. As Premier I will get answers, and I can assure you, I will get answers. I will drill down and find out who is part of the big scam. And I’m the only candidate, the only candidate that will fight for this community. Every community across Ontario is facing similar projects, and as Premier I will clean up this mess.
My friends, I thank you for coming today. We’re known to make sure, what we say we’re going to do, we going to do.
And as sure as I’m standing here, I’m going to come back, and each and every one of you can hold me accountable. I will be back here in the same spot, and we’re going to stop this project.