North Frontenac - Members of Bon Echo Area Residents Against Turbines (BEARAT) are applauding the Government of Ontario's decision to cancel the LRP II process that has been underway. BEARAT has called for the government to take this step consistently since the conclusion of LRP I.

"I want to sincerely thank Mayor Higgins and the North Frontenac Council for their leadership on this issue and encouraging more than 115 municipalities to pass motions calling for projects not to proceed in communities where local support does not exist," said Dan Carruthers, Co-Chair of BEARAT. "We see this cancellation as the first step toward the Government recognizing the role local democracy should play in future energy decisions."

"This is a vindication of the arguments we've put forward against the large renewable procurement process and the proposed projects that were anticipated," said John Laforet of Broadview Strategy Group Inc., who has been working with BEARAT to successfully prevent the approval of more than 470MW of large industrial wind projects proposed by NextEra Canada and RES as part of large renewable procurement.

BEARAT is calling on the Government of Ontario to go further and enshrine within the Long Term Energy Plan solutions to prevent proponents from being able to divide communities and seek to place wind turbines in areas that maximize their profits, without considering the broader impacts on Ontario's economic, environment and social interests.