City Councillor Paul Ainslie has demanded another public meeting on a controversial wind turbine project, after complaining that bused-in activists made him wait more than 2 1/2 hours to ask a question on Monday night. Many of his constituents from the Scarborough Bluffs area left that public consultation early - some elderly and exhausted, others simply fed up, Ainslie said. "It was frustrating," he said. "It was about 40 minutes before someone from the affected area actually got to a microphone."

The Australian company that's building and financing Manitoba's new wind farm - slated to be the biggest in Canada - is nearing financial collapse, but the Manitoba government says there's nothing to worry about. ...Australian pundits said Sunday the company is in its "death throes" and grinding toward receivership, perhaps as early as this week.

A thousand people who overflowed the auditorium of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate on Guildwood Pkwy. last night debated the question at a meeting that mixed neighbourhood angst with debate over the pros and cons of Toronto Hydro's proposed offshore wind farm. ...But the sometimes-raucous meeting turned into a discussion over who was from Scarborough, now part of the City of Toronto. Environmental groups had bused supporters to the meeting from outside the immediate area.

An offshore wind farm represents an opportunity for Toronto to move forward as a green, industrially progressive centre, leading the way as a global city for others to follow suit. To its detractors, it means plummeting property values, skyrocketing electricity costs, and a substantial-if localized-ecological impact. It's like a condensing of every environmental policy debate over the last twenty years. All of which is pretty impressive for a project that has barely reached the testing phase, and only after a seemingly impassable two-year hurdle.

Manitoba Hydro Board has accepted a proposal for a 300 megawatt wind farm to be erected in southern Manitoba. The proposal comes from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., owned by Babcock & Brown Canada. If construction goes ahead as planned the new power generation site will be the largest wind farm in Canada.

Toronto Hydro's wind farm may still be in the research stage, but it's already drawing fire. For now, the city-owned utility wants to set up a small device to measure wind speeds on the lake 2 kilometres off the bluffs. If winds are adequate, 60 turbines could eventually sprout 2 to 4 kilometres offshore, over an area stretching from Ajax almost to the Leslie St. Spit.

Last month, about 50 St. Eleanors residents turned out at a city council meeting raising concerns surrounding the minimal setback regulations of the turbines from residences, noise and health implications and the impact the wind farm will have on property values. City council voted unanimously to table the rezoning until Monday night. That success was short-lived as council voted unanimously to approve the zoning change. Coun. Brent Gallant did not vote because of a conflict of interest issue.

Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the United States, and one might expect environmentalists to cheer the prospect of exchanging a little of our dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign wind. But some fear that a flood of clean power from Canada will undercut New England's efforts to become a national leader in green energy and technology. Jobs could be lost, they caution, and local utilities may have less incentive to reduce their use of coal and other fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Concerns also exist that the construction of expensive transmission lines to bring renewable energy from Canada could drive up the region's electricity rates, already among the highest in the country.

Independent wind producers are facing big hikes in debt costs, raising doubt on whether ambitious construction goals will be met over the next few years, say financing experts. Chris Gifford, a vice president with Allied Irish Banks in Toronto, says worrisome signs for the industry came recently when EarthFirst Canada Inc. (TSX:EF) - the proponent of a major wind farm in British Columbia - declared it was seeking creditor protection. "I think it's a warning sign, what happened to them (EarthFirst) could happen to other people," he said in a telephone interview.

The global financial crisis has forced the Dokie wind energy project in northeast B.C. to seek court protection, in order to hold off creditors who are looking to recover $131 million in debt. EarthFirst Canada Inc. announced recently that it obtained creditor protection. A press release stated that the crisis in global financial markets hindered the company's ability to develop alternatives for financing or completing the sale of the company.

It wasn't the wind testing towers that worried residents - it was the industrial wind turbines that could follow. Several south Innisfil residents asked council last Wednesday to deny a bid by Skypower, an alternative energy company, to erect two meteorological towers near Conc. 14 and Yonge Street to test wind patterns. ...Speaker after speaker told council they feared the test towers would be the first step on the road to a wind turbine farm in the area.

The government's recently announced $1-billion plan for wind energy development came under fire during the opening question period of the fall sitting Wednesday when the Opposition accused the province of protecting Maritime Electric's bottom line over the interests of Islanders. The government's 10-point plan for wind energy development was announced a few weeks ago with much ado. It seeks to grow the Island's wind energy production to 500 megawatts by 2013 and sets out a framework for wind energy projects, establishing ground rules for developers.

A Toronto company called Sky- Power Corporation wants to rezone an area near Highway 11 and Line 14 for a meteorological tower to study wind data. The tower would collect information to see if the area is suitable for wind turbines. ..."We are concerned that there has been little communication of this public meeting and its potential impact on people within the vicinity of the proposed site and Fennels Corners residents," said Gaye Trombley, of Innisfil Windwatchers.

Brothers started the evening presentation with about 75 people in the room; he finished after another 100 entered en masse, and most of them clearly opposed to a development that could bring 30 or 40 wind turbines to the Anglo area. Opponents raised concerns about health risks from windmills which Brothers attempted to refute. He said he is not aware of credible evidence that wind turbines and transmission lines have ill health affects.

The province's newest wind farm near St. Joseph has been delayed, and rural politicians are getting frustrated with what they say is Manitoba Hydro's foot-dragging. Meanwhile, the Australian company that's backing construction of the new wind farm has been plagued by financial problems, and a Manitoba wind powerhouse snubbed by Hydro earlier this year has taken their business south of the border. ..."A Manitoba company is building a wind farm three miles south of the border and we can't get one built here. It's too bad."

Just after Thanksgiving, specialists from countries including Canada, Norway, and Australia laid approximately 8,000 metres of submarine electrical cable to connect Ontario's Wolfe Island Wind Farm Project to the mainland. The installation of the cable, believed to be the world's first designed to carry 230 kilovolts under water, is a significant step in the activation of 86 wind turbines on the island, located directly opposite the City of Kingston at the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.

Wind power is easy to set up and creates no greenhouse gases. So why are so many communities rallying against them? ...Residents complain that straight answers are scarce, with towers designed to measure wind speed popping up across the valley, even as local officials say they have not received any applications for zoning bylaw changes. A community group called Save Our Skyline, or S.O.S. Renfrew County, has formed to fight at least four separate proposals along the Madawaska Valley. Two weeks ago, S.O.S. joined with 23 other local groups to create Wind Concerns, an umbrella organization dedicated to "protecting rural Ontario for future generations." Similar fights are underway across the rest of Canada.

The cash-strapped proponents of B.C.'s most advanced wind farm project have obtained court protection in a bid to hold off creditors. EarthFirst Canada said Tuesday an Alberta court has granted protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ..."EarthFirst has sought protection under the CCAA as its current cash in hand would not allow it to meet its obligations and its obligations with respect to the construction of its 144 megawatt Dokie 1 wind energy project in British Columbia," the release said.

The future of a $90-million wind energy project in Colchester County is in doubt after its struggling Calgary developer sought creditor protection in Alberta on Tuesday. EarthFirst Canada Inc.'s initial attempts to find a buyer for the wind company have failed and it sought protection to give it more time to attract a suitor, EarthFirst president Linda Chambers said in a telephone interview from Calgary. "EarthFirst's efforts to pursue strategic alternatives have been severely hindered by the unprecedented crisis in the global financial markets ..."Ms. Chambers said the economic crisis is "paralyzing" the wind energy industry and many other sectors.