nuclear-news

Huge majority of Scarborough-Rouge River residents oppose keeping Pickering Nuclear operating beyond 2018

Ontario Clean Air Alliance, 12 Aug 16, Residents in the Scarborough Rouge River riding oppose keeping the Pickering Nuclear Station operating beyond 2018 by a wide margin. Informed about Pickering’s high costs and large surrounding population – including all the homes in this riding — close to 70% of voters said the plant should be shut down in 2018 when its current licence expires. (Click here for full polling results.)

Voters in Scarborough-Rouge River will head to the polls on Sept. 1st to elect a new MPP in a provincial by-election. Currently, it is a race between PC candidate Raymond Cho (49%) and Liberal candidate Piragal Thiru (43%). Liberal supporters overwhelmingly support closing the plant, as do a strong majority of PC voters concerned about costs. NDP and Green supporters support closure in even greater numbers.

Living as little as 10 kilometers from Canada’s oldest nuclear plant – which is also the 4th oldest nuclear plant in North America – residents also felt they had been poorly informed about emergency measures in case of an accident at the aging plant. Fifty-nine percent rated safety-related communications poor or very poor.

Riding residents overwhelmingly supported closing Pickering when told that the province has a large surplus of electricity and lower cost options for keeping the lights on. We hope local candidates — and party leaders — will listen to Scarborough voters and promise to direct Ontario Power Generation to drop its plan to apply for a ten-year licence extension for the old and trouble-prone Pickering station.

August 13, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, politics