TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty assured protesters Tuesday that the province will take all necessary precautions to ensure they're not put in any danger when a gas-fired plant is built in their community but gave no indication he'd consider scrapping the plan.

About 500 people rallied at the legislature to demand that the government kill plans to build a gas-fired power plant in Oakville, Ont. Having an explosive substance so close to schools and homes isn't safe, the protesters argued, especially in the wake of a blast in Connecticut that killed six workers as they were clearing gas lines last month.

"We always have to take a look at the best standards to make sure that we're respecting safety and health concerns for communities that have to have a gas-fired plant as part of their community," said McGuinty.

The plant is needed to meet the province's growing energy demands, McGuinty said, adding that he will follow all the rules and regulations required to ensure Ontario facilities are safe.

"We want to make sure we take a look at what happened with respect to this accident that occurred south of the border to make sure we draw whatever lessons we should be drawing from that," he said.

His comments did little to appease Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, who called the plan a "dumb" idea that must be scrapped.

"I've watched the premier correct his mistakes, eventually, throughout his entire career," Burton said.

"This is dumb, he can see it's dumb, I don't know why he wants to take so long to come to his senses and change it, but it's time to shut it down."

Burton said the residents' objections weren't a not-in-my-backyard attitude but simply a demand to put the plant in a safe place -- that is, far enough away that no one gets hurt if there's an explosion.

"You have accidents when people don't follow the rules, you don't plan accidents," he said.

Liberal backbencher Kevin Flynn, who represents the riding of Oakville, will introduce a private member's bill next week asking that gas plants in Ontario be put a certain distance away from any community.

He's suggesting a minimum separation distance between gas-fired power plants and schools, homes and residential areas of about 1,200 metres, based on the fact that wind turbines erected in Ontario must be 500 metres away from homes.

"It seems to me that logic would dictate that if you can't put a two-megawatts wind turbine on that site, you shouldn't be allowed to put an almost 1,000-megawatts gas-fired power plant on that site," said Flynn.

Despite the premier's comments, Flynn said he believed McGuinty would take a second look at the plans, and maybe consider building a different facility near an existing generating station in Nanticoke.

"The premier's a very fair man, and I think faced with what he's seen today on the lawn of Queen's Park, he understands the concern," said Flynn.

"This could be any town in Ontario, it just happens to be Oakville."