It's no surprise that we are facing an energy crisis, considering that some 200,000+ new immigrants enter Canada each year, the majority of whom end up in Ontario, or the Greater Toronto area, to be specific. With all these new bodies arriving, the need for electricity will naturally increase, meaning at some point our ability to produce electricity will be outstripped by demand, if we do nothing to increase our capacity for production. and that's the crux; coal-fired plants are considered uncool because they tend to spew an inordinate amount of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. The former Ontario Hydro actually built a coal-fired plant in Wesleyville, Ontario that was mothballed the day construction was completed. In case you're wondering why a whopping portion of your hydro bill includes a debt retirement assessment, it's to pay off white elephants like Wesleyville, because they became politically incorrect prior to their completion.
The Province of Ontario has not commissioned a new power plant in at least 20 years. Our nuclear plants are operating at a fraction of capacity as units are taken off line for badly needed maintenance, but there are no other plants to replace them.
at one point in our history Ontario was a net exporter of hydroelectric energy. Today we are importers. Why? Because policy decisions are not made on the basis of what's best for the people of Ontario, but on what's best for the political party that happens to be in power.
Consequently, we have an "energy policy" based on using candles. I'm sure most people would agree that urging constituents to use less electricity hardly qualifies as an "energy policy". But that seems to be the direction this Ontario government is heading as it flounders from crisis to crisis.
Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced last week that Ontario's coal-fired plants at Nanticoke and Lambton would remain open beyond their promised closing dates of 2007. No kidding. Either keep those plants running or we all sit in the dark, and that certainly isn't going to increase the Libs' chances of being re-elected next year.
But what about beyond next year? What about beyond the immediate need to get re-elected, do the people of Ontario not deserve better? What plans do the Libs have for the long term?
Solar energy and wind farms are groovy ideas, but by and large they are as unrealistic as they are ineffective. The cost associated with solar power is prohibitive, while wind power creates more ecological problems than it solves. Really, the only viable solution to our energy crisis is to spend the seven or eight billion per unit needed to build new nuclear power plants, despite unfounded and overblown fears of terrible Chernobyl-like accidents. Nuclear energy is the cheapest, cleanest and safest, if managed properly.
McGuinty attempted to blame the shortage of hydroelectricity on Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator, claiming they made a "mistake" in forecasting future energy needs. IESO denies making a mistake and claims their estimates to have been "revised", adding that McGuinty was made aware of the revisions well in advance.
Whichever the case, a bad mistake, bad revisions, it doesn't minimize the Libs' responsibility in this fiasco. If asked, the average man on the street would have been able to tell McGuinty that there is an energy crisis and it isn't going to get better on its own. Which part of this is so hard for him to grasp?
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