It just doesn’t make sense.

This was the new campaign slogan unveiled by Citizens for Clean Air (C4CA), Wednesday night, as they prepared to step up their fight against a 900- megawatt gas-fired power plant proposed for the Ford-owned lands of 1500 Royal Windsor Dr.

The information meeting held by the citizen’s group within John Knox Christian School attracted around 400 people who listened intently as the group announced its future plans.

From a podium at the front of the room, the group’s media and advertising director Aidan Tracey noted the slogan ‘It just doesn’t make sense’ made perfect sense as the group’s rallying cry as it applied to every aspect of the TransCanada project.

“Ultimately the location of this power plant makes no sense,” said Tracey.

“We currently live in an area that is already overtaxed and polluted and we shouldn’t be trying to add to that.”

Tracey also noted the process behind the proposed TransCanada plant’s environmental assessment makes no sense as TransCanada carries out this assessment through companies it has hired.

Citizens for Clean Air is seeking an individual environmental assessment, which would be directed and controlled by the provincial government with input from all levels of government.

On the issue of children’s health, the power plant project also scored high on the C4CA list of things that do not make sense.

With respiratory ailments already an issue, the group noted, it makes little sense to add something to a community that will only make the problem worse.

While the fight against the power plant has been compared to the battle between David and Goliath, with the group being David, recent events have given C4CA reason to be hopeful.

On Monday the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) announced that it had upheld the Town of Oakville’s interim control bylaw, which bans power plants with a capacity greater than 10-megawatts pending the outcome of a study to determine what Oakville lands can best accommodate such power plants.

The bylaw expires on March 30, 2010.

“Someone is finally listening that there should be some process here,” said Doug MacKenzie, C4CA president. “Not the insane process the government is following.”

During the public comment portion of the OMB hearing, hundreds of C4CA members packed council chambers to have their views on the matter heard.

“Did it make a difference?” asked MacKenzie. “We believe it did.”

This statement provoked a thunderous round of applause from the audience.

While the OMB decision may have slowed the power plant’s construction process, MacKenzie and his group are refusing to follow suit.

Tracey announced the group will release a video on YouTube this weekend that seeks to educate the public on exactly what is going on with the power plant in Oakville.

The video features interviews with a variety of Oakville residents including a retired doctor, who voices concerns about the effect the power plant could have on the human health.

The fact that the plant will be less than 400 metres from the nearest homes and schools was also pointed out, as was the fact that under provincial law wind turbines must be at least 550 metres from residential areas.

Ford’s role in supplying the land for the project was also discussed, with Mayor Rob Burton making an appearance in the video to talk about the Town’s relationship with Ford.

“For 56 years Ford has been hosted by Oakville and we’ve had a fairly happy relationship,” said Burton. “They were going in what anyone would agree as a positive environmental direction and then they did this.”

The video concludes with a small blond girl staring into the camera and pleading for the power plant not to be built so close to her home.

Besides the YouTube video the group noted it has hired legal council to help its fight and is posting advertisements in a variety of newspapers to raise awareness.

The latest advertisement features a woman with a ventilator over her mouth and nose and cautions against the particulate matter 2.5, which the group believes the plant will generate.

The group has also created posters and is calling on local retailers to hang them in their businesses.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the group asked those present to make donations, place anti-power plant signs on their lawns and write letters to Premier Dalton McGuinty asking him to put a stop to the power plant.