Trillium chief executive John Kourtoff says the damages sought would cover money the company has spent on a project proposal in Lake Ontario, and the lost potential revenue that would have been obtained through a long-term power supply contract under the Ontario feed-in tariff (FIT) programme.

Trillium alleges in its statement of claim that the Canadian province's decision constituted “a confiscation of property rights, without warning or substantive justification".

As a consequence, the developer was forced to “effectively cease its corporate operation and organisation, to lay-off staff and to cancel contracts with advisers”, according to the lawsuit, which says Trillium had spent C$5.3m on project planning.

Trillium, based in Toronto, had been planning a Lake Ontario wind farm up to 600MW between 17 and 28km offshore Kingston. The developer says the province’s 9 February decision derailed a C$26m financing deal for the project set to close two days later.

“No prior notice was ever made to Trillium Power,” it says in a statement. It had four other offshore wind projects on the drawing boards.

Kourtoff tells Recharge that the move by Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government to freeze offshore wind was motivated by “political expediency” in the run up to 6 October provincial elections. He claims that the ruling Liberals had sought to calm voters in districts where the opposition Progressive Conservatives appeared to be making inroads.

The need for a new round of environmental studies was “all rubbish”, says Kourtoff. McGuinty’s government imposed a similar ban in 2006 but lifted it two years later after consulting with the scientific community. The only science involved with the ban on offshore wind was political science, the lawsuit alleges.

While offshore wind projects generated little controversy among most Ontario residents, they were loudly opposed by some shoreline residents along Lake Erie, Lake Huron and the City of Toronto.

Their complaints were aimed at the close proximity of turbines in project proposals, which they say would ruin lake views and drive down property values.

In its lawsuit, Trillium asserts the ban on offshore wind were decisions made in "bad faith" to appease people in districts near Lake Erie and Lake Huron, far from any of Trillium’s planned projects.

Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid told Canadian media that the lawsuit has no merit, and was among the most frivolous and offensive he has seen in 17 years in elected office.

He says that Trillium was wrong to argue against the province’s legal responsibility to make every effort to protect the environment.

Even before the election campaign, McGuinty had been heckled by small but well-organised anti-wind groups in the province’s interior where the Liberals were losing popularity.

Those groups are demanding a halt to all wind development, alleging that turbines are causing health problems for people living and working near them.

The Liberals’ green energy policies have played a prominent role in the election campaign. McGuinty, who is seeking a third term, and his main opponent, Conservative Tim Hudak, are in a statistical tie in recent polls.

If elected, Hudak has vowed to scrap the FIT programme although he says contracts would be honoured. Trillium did not have a contract with Ontario Power Authority, which manages the FIT process.