If tonight’s rally against a power plant being built in the city’s east end is any indication of the battle that lies ahead, it will be a good fight.

A standing room only crowd of Mississauga and Etobicoke residents packed into Le Treport Wedding & Convention Centre to send a clear message to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Waving signs that read, “Stop the Sherway power plant,” hundreds of residents at the meeting organized by CHIP (Coalition of Homeowners for Intelligent Power) said they won’t stand idly by while Eastern Power Ltd. builds a 280-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant on Loreland Dr.

Tony Jones, the past chair of CHIP, which represents more than 10,000 homeowners in Mississauga and Etobicoke, said the group is gaining momentum.

“We’ve got a lot of very committed, very active volunteers in a growing network of people who are extremely concerned,” said Jones, who has lived in Applewood Acres for 17 years.

There is a lot at stake for residents, Jones said.

“There are some myths about gas power plants being cleaner than coal but they are also more dangerous in some ways,” he said. “One of the things with natural gas fire plants is the particles they give off are much smaller than coal particles. They get deep into people’s lungs so you can’t cough them up. And they stay there and cause all sorts of unpleasant diseases like emphysema and cancer.”

Greg Rohn, interim chair of CHIP, said now until the Oct. 6 provincial election is the time to pressure McGuinty to change his mind about building the Greenfield South plant on Loreland Dr.

“They cancelled (the power plant) in Oakville and they cancelled one in Clarkson and, quite frankly, outside the company that’s building it, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who says it’s a good idea, including inside the government,” he told The News. “I think they know it’s the wrong location, I think they know it’s a mistake and now it’s just a matter of whether or not they can pull out of it and save face, especially at this time.”

After a long period of inactivity on the site, the City of Mississauga issued the company a building permit in May after the Ontario Municipal Board denied the City’s appeal in 2007.

If all goes as planned, the plant is slated to open in late 2014.

Rohn has been fighting plans to built the plant since they first came to light seven years ago.

“The closest homes are 100 metres from the plant, it’s right upwind from Trillium Hospital, it’s near the Etobicoke Creek and it’s a ridiculous location.”

Meanwhile, residents heard from Peel Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Mowat about how the area’s poor air quality will only worsen if the plant is built there.

“In the whole of the GTA, we suffer from air quality that really needs to be taken seriously,” he said.

Mowat said he used the Ontario Medical Association report on air quality to measure the air quality in Peel region.

“Poor air quality in 2005 accounted for more than 370 deaths, 1,200 hospitalizations, 4,500 visits to the emergency room with respiratory problems‚” he said, adding that the cost to health care was about $40 million and the cost of lost time at work due to related illnesses was $44 million. “That’s bad enough and the projections are that it will continue to get worse.”

Residents also heard advice from well-known environmental activist Dr. Boyd Upper and Dorothy Tomiuk, the spokesperson for Miranet, Mississauga’s network of ratepayers groups.

City councillors Jim Tovey, Chris Fonseca and Ron Starr were on hand to show their support as was Mississauga South MPP Charles Sousa.

via Mississauga Article: Power plant fight wages on.