Esther Wrightman speech to the “Unwilling Hosts” Rally (October 19, 2013)

Source: Esther Wrightman | Impacts, Ontario, Protests

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(Slightly edited from the version read at the rally)

Let us be clear about why we are here today. This is a demonstration of “We, The People” versus “We, The Corporations”! (I have of course borrowed the phrase from the American Declaration of Independence.)

This is an in-your-face demonstration of “We, The People” versus the wind energy companies that are strangling rural Ontario – strangling us with the approval and encouragement of our government!

I want to say “Thank you, rural Ontario – you good people who are the backbone of this distinguished province that just produced a Nobel laureate.” I want to say “Thank you” for having the backbone and guts to declare “We’re not going to take it anymore!”

All of us are struggling, in every way short of breaking the law, to save our way of life, our homes, our health, our communities, our wildlife – all this. We have been trying for years. Not days, not weeks – but years!

Our lives are now devoted to saving . . . our lives!

The wind developers and the government were flat wrong! They sneered and whispered to each other, “Don’t worry, they’ll get used to it! They’ll toe the line! They’ll bend the knee and suffer for the greater good of Toronto – our political base!”

But we have not and we will not! They misread us. These are our lives, our homes, our children, our children’s schools you are messing with, Premier Wynne! Ours! (I’m a mother! Don’t mess with my kids!)

One thing you will find out about rural Ontarians, Ms. Wynne, is: We are a tough crowd to deal with when we are vexed (aka pissed off).

With this rally, we put you on notice, Premier Wynne: We are officially and formally pissed off!

If you were to come out here, Madam Premier, you would discover that we invite anyone into our homes! To feed them, talk with them, respect them, even give them shelter. But, dammit, we expect the same courtesies in return! This government has come into our communities to bludgeon us!

Wind turbines are not a courtesy; they are an assault! Let’s call it for what it truly is; government-subsidized corporate terrorism. (The NextTerror, indeed!)

This government has flung us off our land, turned a deaf ear to people who are suffering, sacrificed wildlife to wind turbines – while maintaining the fiction, the hoax of “democracy.”

Premier Wynne, we will not be taken for suckers anymore! We will not be bullied and terrorized anymore! And if we don’t see action – and I mean STOP THE WIND TURBINES action! – then we will redouble our efforts to get your attention, until it becomes impossible to ignore the outraged roar of rural Ontario!

Ontario is not about Toronto; Ontario is about all the towns and villages and communities that just won Alice Munro (from rural Ontario, by the way) a Nobel Prize in Literature. Toronto is just one of those towns. Toronto is not a sovereign state with vassal fiefdoms paying homage.

There are good laws and bad laws. The Green Energy Act is a bad law. We call on the Premier and legislature to strike it down. Until that happens, we do have the right and obligation to see that it is broken – violated. We refuse to live under its jack boot!

Rural Ontario – this rally, this protest, is the beginning of something bigger Take this spirit home to your community, to Toronto – everywhere. Be creative, be determined – and let us all link arms and stand together and put an end to the terrorism of wind turbines in rural Ontario.

Get mad! Stay mad! Make history!