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Jenkins wrong about Carrie, ethanol plant

Dear Editor,

Re: “Waterfront ethanol debacle not MP’s fault”, published in The Oshawa Express Dec. 20, 2017

Elsie Jenkins has deliberately misled the readers of your well-written and read newspaper by writing that regional council invited FarmTech to our community, not the Conservatives or Dr. Colin Carrie.

I have read the official minutes of the June 29, 2011 regional council meeting. If the entire minutes were printed it would state that regional council voted unanimously to support a motion stating “the City of Oshawa emphatically reaffirms its opposition to the development of an ethanol plant at the Oshawa Harbour beside the provincially-significant Second Marsh.”

The motion contains many Whereas and numbers in the lengthy document. One is Whereas a decision to enable the development of an ethanol plant at the harbour now rest solely with the federal government.

Oshawa is booming. Did Ms. Jenkins write this to convince the newer people of Oshawa who have moved here to promote Dr. Colin Carrie? Was it done to politically tar and feather and tarnish the reputation of the Regional Chair and all regional councillors, including Oshawa’s mayor and councillors.

Jenkins goes on to say Carrie has maintained the Oshawa waterfront was not his preferred location for an ethanol refinery, but the decision was not his to make. Carrie, by doing absolutely nothing, was approving it.

Let me echo the opinion of a grandfather who was babysitting his grandchildren who live close to the waterfront.

His family constantly worries what the federal government and Conservative-controlled port authority are doing.

Carrie didn’t have a worry about the ethanol refinery and the possibility of noxious fumes, fire, explosions, etc. or his family and residence because Carrie’s primary residence is in Stittsville, Ont. A long way from the Oshawa Harbour, but a short ride from Ottawa. There are many, many more stories, Elsie.

Additionally, the can of worms you opened on the historic 2010 agreement is also not factual, and doesn’t permit me newspaper space at this time to reply, but I will at another time. It will be very revealing about the Harper, Flaherty and Carrie Conservative government and the Federal Port Authority.

Dear Editor and staff wishing you and yours a healthy and happy new year 2018 as your paper grows.

Take care,

Larry Ladd

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