Financial Post Comment, July 10, 2015
In today’s Financial Post is a comment piece by economic professor Ross McKitrick and energy analyst Tom Adams called “Ontario’s job killer.”
“Perhaps Ontario’s business leaders are finally realizing that moving their deck chairs to the high side of a sinking ship is not a long-term solution,” Adams and McKitrick write.
“With the Ontario Liberal government this week preening on the global climate stage at the Climate Summit of the Americas in Toronto, doubling down on its costly green agenda, the business community needs to face up to the bigger picture.”
The two authors present more data on the real sources of air pollution (transportation, building and industry) and comment that the “coal death toll claim is absurd but it illustrates the government’s warped propaganda campaign that derailed sensible power planning discussions.”
Read the entire article here.
20 Comments
John Vincent
Here in Kawartha Lakes, the “job killers” are going up by five. Five more solar plants have been announced in Kawartha Lakes at a nominal 100 acres a piece, one is about 200 acres. Another one takes up 1500 feet of lake front on Four Mile Lake. There’s no end to this stupidity.
Pat Cusack
Mz Wnne will now add a carbon tax to get rid of the jobs that are left.
Barbara
Have often wondered why business leaders have kept quiet for so long about the Ontario electricity situation.
Maybe it’s just easier to move or go out of business than it is to deal with ENGOs, developers and the money people involved in this situation.
If business people spoke up the “mob” would have been all over them?
Sommer
Are intimidation tactics also being used so effectively that no one in the Liberal Party will stand up and speak to these serious ramifications of the mismanaged Energy Portfolio?
How is it that Justin Trudeau remains silent on this situation?
Why would he want to see business people in Ontario forced to go elsewhere because of high energy rates?
I wrote a letter to Trudeau about the industrial renewable situation in rural Ontario and the reply was something to the effect that he could not interfere with Wynne’s decisions.
Who will be able to get through to Wynne and Chiarelli before it’s too late?
R Budd
Justin Trudeau’s close friend and head strategist is Gerald Butts. Butt’s was Mc Guinty’s aid till he left around ’08. He had worked with Smitherman earlier and was instrumental in developing the GEA. He left McGuinty to take the lead at World Wildlife Fund, which then began their renewable energy campaign. If you visited the WWF website back then you’d see pictures of turbines in the sidebar with the comment…”your going to see a lot more of these in Ontario”.
Butts left WWF to work for Justin when the federal race began. Now ex-TO mayor David Miller is carrying on the “renewable is doable” campaign at WWF.
If that isn’t enough, Justin’s head fundraiser is Peter Bronfman. His Brookfield Renewables is near the top of big winners in the GEA cash for life FIT program.
Don’t expect any help from Justin.
Sommer
Thanks for your research.
People need to know how the layers of complicity are intertwined.
R Budd
Still a very good thing you took the time to contact these folks. At least they know we are here 🙂
ScepticalGord
Justin Trudeau’s energy advisor is none other than Mike Crawley, Liberal hack and former GDF Suez president / CEO.
Wind Concerns Ontario
…and now, executive VP at Northland Power…
Barbara
Businesses don’t want to spend money for legal fees and publicity campaigns to defend their businesses from ECO-mobs.
Manufacturing businesses may have the option of moving as has already happened. Retailers likely don’t have the option of moving as they would have to enter other markets that already have established retailers.
Barbara
350.org, July 6, 2015
“On Friday, students in 5 major Canadian cities staged sit-ins at the offices of Members of Parliament …”
http://www.350.org/this-weekend-was-a-turning-point-in-the-canadian-climate-movement
Wind Concerns Ontario
They are both answering to puppet-masters we know nothing about.
Barbara
For businesses, much could be riding on the cap-and-trade regulations and which businesses will be most affected.
Barbara
Manufacturing can move to places with lower labour costs and purchase “carbon” credits and still remain competitive in world markets.
Joanne Moore
I moved to the coast of Lake Huron last year from BC. I’m just appalled that the Green Energy Act, and the associated wind turbine projects have been pushed thru with absolutely no public consultation. Suncor, Samsung, and the others are not here to be green, they are here for the vast amounts of money being paid out in subsidies. These are industrial machines. Why are they not being installed in designated industrial areas, away from people & livestock? The health issues are very real, never mind the blight on the landscape. Don’t even get me started on the proposed Nuclear Dump for the Bruce plant…
John Vincent
Joan: We all agree with your observations on the green energy act and its effect on the shors of Lake Huron, among other places.
However, I fear you may not be fully informed about the low level radio active waste dump being prepared at BNPD. This is not fuel, and it is not new. There has been a dump there for over 20 years, that , probably, most of the public don’t evene know about. I qute the following from this URL: http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp352-e.htm#PRESENT%20STORAGE%20CONDITIONS%28txt%29
A significant proportion of the low-level waste is generated at the 20 nuclear power reactors operated by Ontario Hydro and from the research laboratories of AECL. All of this waste has been stored at Ontario Hydro’s Bruce Nuclear Power Development site or the Chalk River Laboratory site of AECL, to avoid the problem of having many small sites.
For 20 years, Ontario Hydro has stored its low-level waste from all three power plants at the Bruce Nuclear Power Development site, located 200 kilometres north-west of Toronto. In storing the waste, four basic principles are followed. The facilities are designed to last a maximum of 50 years and materials must be retrievable from them. Radioactive materials cannot be placed directly in the earth but must be in an engineered structure. Only solids are placed in storage; liquids must first be immobilized to ensure they do not spread into the environment. Finally, waste storage is recognized as temporary; no permanent disposal method for low-level radioactive waste has yet been implemented.(7)
Greg Latiak
Adam Beck was wise to think that cheap power was a facilitator for a thriving economy. This has been the case with pretty much every civilization throughout history — prosperity came from ‘more’. Now we are exploring whether ‘less’ will have the same effect. And just claiming it will save the planet doesn’t make it so.
As for the waste that folks hyperventilate about — someday we will realize these are energy sources we are just to dim to use.
John Vincent
Gre: I quite agree. Its like the old something for nothing trick. As to waste, we are sitting on an energy gold mine of waste. There are very high tech incinerators in use today in Europe that can turn those dumps into electricty 24/7. For some reason people are lead to believe that burying waste is some how more enviromentally better than burning it and getting electricity from it.
There are big dumps in the Don Valley in Toronto I’ll bet most Torontians don’t even know exist event though they drive by them every day.
Barbara
The July 7-9th, 2015 Climate Summit of the Americas, Toronto, organized by the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate just another staged event? And by invitation only! Check out the program for this event.
How much did this event cost Ontarians?
Barbara
Climate Summit of the Americas
Climate Summit Confirmed Speakers
Program speakers at:
http://www.downloads.ene.gov.on.ca/files/climatesummit/CSA_SummitSpeakers.pdf