City to consider its position on proposed new electrical line

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If there's to be a third electricity line coming in to Toronto, put it in the water and not through neighbourhoods in Scarborough, East York and Riverdale.

That is the message that Toronto Council has voted to send to the Ontario Energy Board, as it reviews the complex Provincial Integrated Power System Plan.

The plan is a broad strategy for providing reliable electricity across the province, focusing in part on shoring up the distribution system.

That aspect of the plan has generated anxiety in neighbourhoods through central and east Toronto, after early documents surfaced suggesting that the province wanted to send a third trunk power line through northwest Scarborough, into East York and down Pape Avenue to the Hearn Generating plant.

Provincial officials have denied this is so. And the hearing taking place currently at the OEB is not contemplating any routing discussions at this phase of the review. Toronto officials had intended to simply submit recommendations on conservation measures.

However, Ward 37 (Scarborough Centre) Councillor Michael Thompson convinced councillors to go ahead and talk alignment.

He argued that another option in the document - one that would see the power line delivered to the Hearn underwater, via Lake Ontario - ought to be Toronto's on-record choice.

"If there's a third line, we should put it underwater so it doesn't go through a residential community - through local areas where I don't want hydro lines in the community," he said. "My community is bombarded by hydro lines. I have a major development that's come forward being developed very close to a hydro line. So I think it's appropriate we allow for this."

Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park) Councillor Gord Perks argued that bringing up alignment of a hypothetical power line right now only undermined the city's argument that conservation - not more electrical power - is the solution to Toronto's long-term electricity needs.

And he pointed out that the OEB isn't even interested in discussing routing at this point.

But other councillors felt differently.

"Councillor Perks is opposed to this because he wants complete and total emphasis on making sure we won't require additional power generation," said Ward 29 (Toronto Danforth) Councillor Case Ootes. "That's admirable, but it's misguided to think that the city's power needs can be achieved that way."