In July of this year, BC Hydro and Fortis will embark upon a billion-dollar-plus venture to replace every analog hydro meter in the province with a wireless “smart” electrical meter. For consumers of electricity, who face up to a 50 per cent increase in their electrical utility bills over the next few years, this expenditure is needless and unjustified.
Gordon Campbell signed the Clean Energy Act in April of 2010. This act is not about clean energy; this act is about creating more profit and getting more control over the citizens of British Columbia. In this act, Gordon Campbell pledged that every home would receive a “smart” meter by the year 2012. This act also exempts all “clean energy” initiatives from scrutiny by the B.C. Utilities Commission and, therefore, there will be no public consultation usually guaranteed by the BCUC on such initiatives.
The B.C. Smart Meter program is another Liberal-insider deal; however, this one is by far the most corrupt and outrageous. I will leave it up to the readers to wade through the trails of people who will get millions of our dollars from contracts they have gotten, without competition, to purchase, distribute and install these meters. This article explains how these people lead directly to the doorsteps of Gordon Campbell and other high-profile Liberals. http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/03/07/SmartMeterProfits/print.html.
Although the costs of the Smart Meter program is, in itself, enough to turn one’s stomach, there is another important side to these meters that needs attention. A few weeks ago, the World Health Organization listed the emissions of wireless devices such as smart meters as a potential carcinogen. Electro-magnetic radiation is in the same category as DDT as a potential health risk.
One would think that this announcement by the WHO would be enough for a government to put the brakes on a program that guarantees higher levels of exposure to a potential carcinogen. In Europe, for example, these wireless meters have been refused due to their potential health risks. Instead, telephone cables and fibre optic cables relay the information from the “smart” meters.
The problem in B.C. is that the businesses that were awarded the contracts to provide the meters have absolutely no interest in serving the public and in ensuring that the public’s health is protected. They have politicians and government bills on their side to ensure that they will live the rest of their lives swathed in our money. They are driven by profit, and this program guarantees them just that.
I have on a number of occasions expressed my opinion in this paper. This is by far the most important issue that I will ever write about; it is by far the most despicable, cruel and corrupt undertaking by a government that I have ever witnessed. The people who sanctioned this undertaking do not belong in government. They are risking the well-being of every citizen in British Columbia.
I ask anyone who reads this to take a few minutes to learn more about the health concerns over the proliferation of wireless signals that we are increasingly being exposed to. For an introduction to smart meters, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR8tILAxhjI. For more information about health risks from electro-magnetic radiation, go to www.citizensforsafetechnology.org.
Vicki Lightfoot
Summerland
