Can Anyone Tell Us Why?

Here's news that every long term resident of Ontario might find of concern. From 1950to 1979, Ontario Hydro (today's HydroOne) sprayed Agent Orange across Ontario to clear power line corridors. This is a fact confirmed by a HydroOne spokesperson.
One question I would be curious to see an official answer to is why it was done. I don't mean the first answer they would rush to offer, which would be the innocent rejoinder of "we thought it was harmless". I mean, what was the perceived need for stripping the corridors of everything green and growing. I don't care how much the innocence tack is taken, the fact remains that anyone with half a brain would have to wonder how a substance so deadly to vegetation could supposedly have no effect at all on other life forms.
Ontario's Department of Lands and Forests (today's Ministry of Natural Resources) was using the spray at the same time, in order to kill off “weed trees” like birch, maple, and poplar to maximize the growth potential of the money-making trees like white and black spruce. The U.S. military was using the chemical concoction in Operation Ranch Hand, Air Force missions that sprayed the defoliant across more than 3.6 million acres of Vietnam in order to expose Viet Cong camps.The one use was practised in worship of the dollar bill. The other was intended supposedly to end armed conflict. According to Sidney Rodger, a former Hydro supervisor who worked in Eastern Ontario from 1958 to 1968, “Every power line in Ontario was sprayed. All this spraying was done in urban and rural areas with no regard for creeks and streams or residents and wildlife.” Can any HydroOne official tell us, what was the reason for Hydro's use of the deadly chemical cocktail?
Thanks to an investigation by the Toronto Star, details of some horrific results of the chemical spraying are now being brought to light. For instance, government records list the names of five supervisors who worked on spraying programs in Northern Ontario during the 50's and 60's. Four of those supervisors have either been diagnosed with cancer or have already died of it. Such a result certainly does not bode well for any of the other workers who came in contact with the spray. Nor is it a good omen for the local residents who inhaled the spray as it was carried to them by the wind or brought right into their homes by rains that carried it into the groundwater. More than 50 medical conditions have been listed as associated with exposure to Agent Orange by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. According to the Star article published today, Saturday February 26, a HydroOne spokesperson, Daniele Gauvin, has said that "people are welcome to call the “corporate switchboard” if they have concerns."
It seems to me that the HydroOne switchboard should be entirely monopolized by such calls for many a day. Given that medical studies have determined the type of dioxin found in Agent Orange attaches itself to fat cells, remaining in the body for decades, and that exposure can lead to any of those aforementioned 50 medical conditions, including skin disorders, certain types of cancers and impaired reproductive functions, there are many Ontarians who should be determinedly dialing that HydroOne number.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has announced that it is working with the ministries of Health, Labour and Environment “to ensure...health and safety is protected” but that's little more than slamming the barn door shut after the horse has already wandered away. If you or anyone in your family have any memories of being around spraying done by Ontario Hydro, get on the phone, fast.