SUBJECT LINE: WHY DO YOU ACCEPT FALSE INFORMATION FROM OPG?

Dear [Member of Parliament]

As a constituent, I am writing to inform you of a growing concern I have with the Government of Canada over the pending decision on Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to build a permanent nuclear waste dump on the shore of Lake Huron.

I have long opposed this insanity as an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes and the 40 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water. I believe any informed person who does not stand to benefit economically from that project, would also share my concerns. However the subject of my immediate concern is the behaviour of the Government towards a seemingly endless supply of false and misleading information about this project and public perceptions of this project.

Earlier this year, OPG submitted its response to a formal request from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for more information on alternate sites for the nuclear waste dump. In their 700 page reply, OPG told the Minister that alternate sites were too expensive, too dangerous from a transportation perspective and unnecessary because OPG’s public opinion poll showed that a majority of the Ontario public support the project.”

I will comment on the technicalities of OPG’s reply to the Minister at a later date and focus on the completely false information OPG has provided the Minister. Nowhere in the public opinion poll OPG commissioned on the subject, does the data support OPG’s claims. An analysis of the poll conducted by independent public attitudes professionals, shows the exact opposite of OPG’s outrageously false claim “that 70 percent of respondents supported the project.”

The attached analysis shows clearly that nearly two-thirds of respondents oppose construction of a Deep Geologic Repository on the shore of Lake Huron. The analysis also shows why that is the only conclusion of the poll that is representative of Ontario public opinion.

OPG knowingly supplied this false information to the Minister (page 72 of their report) to the media and by extension, to the public. To be clear, this is an organization majority owned by the Government of Ontario deliberately providing false information to the people of Ontario, the people of Canada and the Government of Canada about a project that could threaten the health of 40 million Canadians and Americans.

I am not surprised they have done this. But I am astounded and deeply disappointed that the Government, elected with a mandate to protect our environment, to protect the Great Lakes, stands quietly by and knowingly accepts false information from a proponent of a project that threatens the Great Lakes for the next 100,000 years.

I would like to understand:

• your position on this proposed project;

• your reaction about OPG’s release of misleading information, and

• what steps you intend to take regarding this information.