UPDATE Manvers Wind Concern Question!: All Kawartha Lakes Mayoral Candidates Answers Posted!

Manvers Wind Concern Receives 4 Replies Why Not Five?

UPDATED September 30- Response from Missing Mayoral Candidate added.
Manvers Wind Concern, a dedicated group of volunteers is concerned about the potential affect of wind turbines on residents' health. Manvers Wind Concern sent emails to all City of Kawartha Lakes Mayoral Candidates, but only received replies from four candidates. Which candidate did not reply? Why did they not reply?
Here is the press release from Manvers Wind Concern. Note : When posting to Omemee Pigeon eFlyer, we must first strip all formatting from submissions and then reformat the submission. While there may be some differences in our post as compared to the press release we received, they are unintentional.

Kawartha  Mayoral Candidates Answer Manvers Wind Concern Question

by Paul Reid Manvers Wind Concern

Which Kawartha Lakes Mayoral Candidate Did Not Answer Manvers Wind Concern?

Manvers Wind Concerns would like to thank Bill Denby, Andy Letham , John Macklem, and Donna Villemaire for taking the time to respond to our request for their position on Industrial Wind Turbines in COKL. There has been no response from Brenda Karagiannis despite sending another and separate email to her attention.
As promised, their responses were posted to this eblast verbatim, unedited, and in the exact manner and font presented. 
THIS WAS THE QUESTION PUT TO THE MAYORALTY CANDIDATES RUNNING IN COKL: 
 RESPONSES BELOW 
 Dear Mayoralty Candidate,
Manvers Wind Concerns is posing a question to all of the Mayoralty candidates.
As the potential Mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes your position on Industrial Wind Turbines, and your leadership on this issue , is very important to us.
We would request that you provide an answer to the question below within 10 business days so that our members will be able to cast an informed vote in this very important municipal election.
Your answers will be distributed to MWC and posted on our website on Monday September 29th. Please answer the following question:
Manvers Wind Concerns, representing a vast majority of residents, has been as a grass roots group, fighting the incursion of Industrial Wind Turbines into COKL for 7 long years now. 
Many municipal politicians have said that they do not support industrial wind projects but because the Province makes the final decision, it is out of their hands. There are, however, ways in which a municipality can support a community. 
What do you know about this issue and what would you, as Mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes, be prepared to do to support Manvers in its fight against the proposed Industrial wind projects in the Manvers area." 
 Thank you for taking the time to address this issue and thank you for your service to the community.
 Paul Reid
for MWC
AND IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER HERE ARE THE ANSWERS :

Bill DENBY :

MR. REED , MY ANSWER IS NO !!"THESE PROJECTS CREATE LONG TERM JOBS IN OUR COMMUNITY FOR PEOPLE THAT NEED JOBS I BELEIVE IN ALL FORMS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AND WILL IMPLEMENT THEM ON CITY OWNED PROPERTIES AS SOON AS WE TAKE OFFICE ,MRS. STAUBLE HAS BEEN QUITE A ONE ISSUE COUNCILLOR AT COUNCIL ,HER INTEREST ONLY LIES WITH YOUR CAUSE TO STOP ALL RENEWABLE PROJECTS IN THE CITY THAT SHE STARTED PROTESTING AGAINST . LOOK THERE ARE TWO NEW CANDIDATES RUNNING IN WARD 16 ,I HOPE ONE IS SUCCESSFUL IN BECOMING WARD 16 COUNCILLOR ,I SUPPORT BOTH OF THEM ! WE HAVE WASTED TO MUCH TIME AND MONEY WITH NOT IN OUR WARD RATHER THAN ADDRESSING THE SITE AND COMING UP WITH A SOLUTION ,THEN GET ON WITH THE PROJECT !I MY SELF ,WE ARE STALLING BOTH WIND AND SOLAR WHERE WE LIVE AT 3900 HIGHWAY 35 NORTH ! YOUR GROUP IS VERY NARROW MINDED ,WHY DON'T YOU ALL TURN OFF YOUR HYDRO AND PRACTICE WHAT YOU ARE AGAINST !PLEASE DO IT ,THEN LET ME KNOW SO I CAN VISIT WHEN I BECOME THE MAYOR OF KAWARTHA LAKES ! MAYOR BILL ELECTED P.S. YOUR GROUP SHOULD PROTEST AGAINST THE 407 GOING ACROSS GOOD FARM LAND AS WELL ! MAYBE YOUR GROUP CAN STOP THAT TOO !

 JOHN MACKLEM 

Dear Paul, to all concerned, I believe the Province’s process is very misguided, so as Mayor I need to be Council’s voice at the Provincial level with Council direction as to process. Personally I oppose all wind turbine development in southern Ontario. I trust this will be just the beginning of our working together to move forward in CKL.
Kindest Regards John Macklem, candidate for Mayor.

 ANDY LETHAM 

 Hi Paul, 
 Thanks for the e-mail. Let me start by saying that I am not an expert on wind turbines and what I know about them I have learned through the many reports available on the subject. As you know, those reports vary greatly depending on who they were written by. What I do know is that in order for the provincial government to get people on board the” green energy is the future concept”, they must involve them in the process from the start. They cannot for political reasons decide that this is the direction the people of this province are going, and then turn around and force those very same people to deal with the very real concerns associated with their implementation. There might be willing municipalities in this province who want wind turbines, but the City of Kawartha Lakes is not one of them. If elected mayor I would be happy to work with your organization by whatever means necessary to support your community in this ongoing battle against the wind turbines. Andy Letham

DONNA VILLEMAIRE 

 Hello Paul.
As a Councillor, I am aware first-hand of the concerns of the Manvers, Bethany and Pontypool residents regarding the placement of industrial wind/solar farms in the area. I am in close contact with your local councillor, Heather Stauble, regarding Sumac Ridge, Fleetwood Creek and the Oak Ridges Moraine.
While I am in favour of environmental protection and energy I do not support the wind turbine project as it is a large, industrial wind farm on a protected moraine. I specifically mention this in my campaign platform and have attached a copy for your review.
As past chair of the Kawartha Conservation Authority, I also support the position that full environmental assessments be comprehensive, transparent and objectively undertaken for projects located in the Oak Ridges Moraine.
I stand with the residents in the area, conservationists, the Peterborough airport, the First Nations communities and the Buddhist temple (which will also be a significant economic revenue for our community) in opposing this project.
As Mayor, I will ensure the new Council is made aware of reasons why the City has taken the position it has as an “unwilling host” for industrial wind turbines. I will also use the Office of Mayor and my networks with the province as a Councillor for more than a decade, to insist the province honours the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation and Greenbelt plans to protect these environmentally sensitive and ecologically important areas.
Feel free to call me to talk further or if you’d like to meet in person for coffee. I would also appreciate your views on this important matter.
Regards, Donna ............................................................................................................................................................................................ Once again, many thanks to the Mayoralty Candidates for taking the time to respond to this critical issue that in fact goes well beyond the significant local concerns. Best of luck to all and thank you for your public service.
Paul Reid
for MWC
~ ~ ~  ~
We posted a note to Brends Karagiannis  to find out why she did not reply. Here is the update.
UPDATE
Following our note to Brenda Karagiannis, we received the following reply sent this morning to Manvers Wind Concern:
from Brenda Karagiannis
Thank you and in fact this email along with others were in my Spam folder... I apologize and can assure you that I endeavour to respond to emails within 24 hours. This account is not one I normally use and therefore when the emails were sent to the spam folder they were overlooked. My response is below should you wish to share:
Hi Paul,
As a neighbour and fellow taxpayer I have tried to stay informed on this issue not only here in Kawartha Lakes but also in Southern Ontario.
As the Mayor of The City of Kawartha Lakes I will always be concerned with the health and safety of all our residents. Although wind-generated power is an established source of renewable energy being created globally, there are legitimate concerns and studies being put forward regarding health, safety and the economic impacts for those living close to developed sites.
I understand that with the passing of the Green Energy Act in 2009, our Municipality along with all the others in Ontario, were excluded from any input and the decision making process relating to the location, setbacks etc... Even the right of an individual to appeal the location and placement was removed. This is not acceptable!
I served as the Chair of the HKLB Conservative Party of Canada EDA for 8 years and during that time I learned the power of advocacy and quickly established a network which allows me direct access to Provincial and Federal Government regardless of the political party. My gift of advocacy has been a tremendous asset to the City of Kawartha Lakes while a board member on the following committees of council; Business Development Advisory Board, The Economic Development Opportunities Committee & Tourism Advisory Board.
As Mayor of The City of Kawartha Lakes I intend to work diligently with your organization, other Municipalities and on behalf of our citizens to effectively advocate to the Province and the Federal Government to influence the direction and decision making process of this very important issue.
I welcome future meetings with your group and look forward to working with you personally.
Brenda Karagiannis - Candidate for Mayor of The City of Kawartha Lakes

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