WhatFinger


Something to think about when Americans go to the polls in November

Democrats and renewable energy



Being a Canadian perhaps I shouldn't be saying anything, but I have been paying attention to the U.S. Presidential election and I find that Americans have some serious thinking to do. I've listened to both the Republican and the Democratic representatives and it's curious that on one hand one candidate says that the U.S., in its quest for protection, should consider restricting the rest of the world from some of the benefits of dealing with the U.S. On the other hand, the other candidate says that they should put the U.S. so far in debt that it will be just like California, just to implement their mandate of environment, post-secondary education, etc., etc., etc. On July 28, at the Democratic convention the candidate, in her speech, spoke of "renewable energy" and all of the employment that would be created if the U.S. moved forward with this initiative. All I can say is wake up America and take a look to the North, specifically Ontario.
Ontario has the highest electricity pricing in Canada, if not the entire world. Our province is, basically, being run by Korea, particularly our electricity. Ontario entered into an agreement, with contractual statements of "green employment" in Ontario, allowing for a monopoly benefitting Samsung/Korea Consortium. Underlying this agreement, there is also a financial agreement between Korea and Japan, so to really mix things up, it wasn't long until Japan challenged Canada in the World Courts because of Ontario's restrictive job creation requirements in the Korea/Samsung contract. Quick explanation - in Canada, if a province violates a global trade agreement, it's the Canadian federal government which must attend the courts. This places all Canadians on the hook for legal costs and fines when Canada doesn't win. Apparently the "Samsung/Korea Consortium – Ontario" energy contract violated established Canadian trade agreements. To paraphrase, this is how it played out. On 13 September 2010, Japan contacted Canada regarding Canada's measures relating to domestic content requirements in the renewable energy feed-in tariff program (the “FIT Program”).

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Japan claimed that the Ontario contract violated Canada's obligations under Article III: 4 and III: 5 of the 1994 GATT agreement, because it appeared that there were laws, regulations or requirements applicable to the contracts which would require the manufacture of equipment for renewable energy generation facilities to be in and from Ontario. These requirements would limit and/or disallow imported equipment and foreign employment and allowed Ontario protection for the production of all equipment needed for the renewable energy projects. According to Japan this violates the principles of Article III: 1 of the GATT, and Article 2.1 of the TRIMs Agreement because of trade-related investment measures. There were also issues of provincial subsidies in violation of Articles 3.1(b) and 3.2 of the SCM Agreement because these subsidies were “contingent … upon the use of domestic over imported goods.” Of course Canada lost because the Ontario government, like so many times before, had entered into agreements which violated international trade deals, leaving all Canadians on the hook for Ontario's incompetence. Because of this deal, between the Korea Consortium/Samsung and Ontario, there has been a monopoly created, which violates the laws of Canada. It would seem that none of the political parties have the will to bring this very important issue to the media. This deal, like many others, is merely political – an environmental fashion statement, and it is the people who are having to pay for government's financial mismanagement. Shame on the political parties, and shame on the Federal government for not calling out the Ontario provincial government on this. It might get one asking if it is just the provincial Liberal Party which has their finger in the Korean pie? Something to think about when Americans go to the polls in November.


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Elizabeth Marshall -- Bio and Archives

Elizabeth Marshall on Facebook
• Non-Partisan Advocate
• Director of Research Ontario Landowners Association
• Author – “Property Rights 101:  An Introduction
• Board Member/Secretary – Canadian Justice Review Board
• Legal Research – Green and Associates Law Offices, etc.,
• Legislative Researcher – MPs, MPPs, Municipal Councilors,
• President All Rights Research Ltd.,

I am not a lawyer and do not give legal advice.  Any information relayed is for informational purposes only.  Please contact a lawyer.


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