NDP Leader Howard Hampton is calling on the McGuinty government to immediately change its rules regarding access to Crown lands for wind energy development.

“The Minister of Natural Resources’ new process for accessing Crown lands to develop wind-power excludes smaller, less-resourced wind energy companies,” Hampton said.

“Creating a private sector monopoly on the most lucrative wind generation sites on public lands isn’t what I would describe as the best way to further wind energy development,” he added.

In today’s edition of the Toronto Star, it was reported that SkyPower Corp. used a “first-come, first-served” MNR policy for accessing Crown lands for wind-power development to simultaneously submit a massive number of applications, effectively relegating smaller wind energy companies to the margins. The Star further reports that the “first-come, first-served” process for accessing Crown lands was “quietly unveiled in January” by the McGuinty government.

The Annual Contribution List provided to Elections Ontario by the Ontario Liberal Party shows that SkyPower donated $5,000 to Liberal coffers on December 21, 2007.

“One has to wonder what possessed the McGuinty Liberals to develop a process that leads to this outcome,” said Hampton.

“Events unfolding in New Brunswick show that SkyPower has been very successful in getting to the front-of-the-line for public lands in that province as well,” he added.

In New Brunswick, the opposition is calling for a full public inquiry into how SkyPower attempted to secure untendered access to public lands for wind-power developments. In a sworn affidavit filed by New Brunswick Power’s President and CEO, David Hay, he states that government officials, including New Brunswick’s Liberal Premier, asked him in 2007 to sign a $1.4 billion, 20-year deal with SkyPower without embarking on a public tendering process.

“The Minister of Natural Resources must act quickly to fix this mess,” said Hampton. “Under Section 2(1) of the Public Lands Act, she has the powers to revoke the applications, and then develop a truly fair process for wind energy development on Crown lands.”