Ford Country

What the Doug Ford Government means for the Energy Sector – the great unwynnding;

“Premier Doug Ford ran and won on a platform labeled For the People: A Plan for Ontario. The platform set out Ford’s energy plan, in its entirety, as follows:

 

• Clean up the Hydro Mess and fire the board of Hydro One and its $6-million-dollar CEO.

 

• Our first act will be to end the Liberal practice of making millionaires from your hydro bills!

 

• Stop sweetheart deals by scrapping the Green Energy Act.

 

• Cut hydro rates by 12% for families, farmers, and small businesses by:

 

• Returning Hydro One dividend payments to families.

 

• Stopping the Liberal practice of burying the price tag for conservation programs in your hydro bills and instead pay for these programs out of general government revenue.

 

• Cancel energy contracts that are in the pre-construction phase and re-negotiate other energy contracts.

 

• Declare a moratorium on new energy contracts.

 

• Eliminate enormous salaries at Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One.

h/t raid

45 Replies to “Ford Country”

  1. I particularly enjoyed reading this part in the analysis under What this may mean for innovators:

    The new Ontario Government can be expected to test all proposals, pitches and policies against the following measures:

    1) Is it “For the People”, in that the benefits (financial or otherwise) can be enjoyed by large segments of the population?

    2) Does it make life more affordable, by reducing costs, reducing spending, reducing fees or charges, or reducing consumption?

    That should in theory kill off every idiotic Green Fascist energy idea.

    But time will tell if Ford really sticks to his guns. Put me in the “wait and see” camp.

    1. The real question for me is what is the price of gas, electricity etc. Anecdotal gas price comparison shows it is now lower in Toronto area than in Edmonton. Go Rach!

  2. The decade long Liberal Wind scheme in Ont comes to a well deserved end. Existing pre-construction contracts with Wind outfits are being canceled and there will be no new projects approved. The Wind concerns will leave Ont and look for better pickings in more gullible areas, no one will mourn their passing. Canceling the Green Energy Act returns planning to local councils and no municipality anywhere is going to approve more industrial wind plants.
    Canceling the existing FIT contracts may be more problematic as the companies will fight for compensation; it remains to be seen how that will evolve. But, the province loses so much on buying wind generated power and giving it away that it might be a better deal to simply but them out now and be rid of them.
    The hangover from this Liberal inspired fiasco will cost Ont millions more over the coming years, including the opportunity cost of not investing in Nuclear and efficient gas fired generation. Future generations will look back on this deal as absolute folly and the Liberals will wear it. Good riddance.

    1. There should also be a levy on all windmills/solar farms to ensure there’s sufficient funds for site mitigation. Just like mines/energy projects in the fossil fuel industries. Further a system that treats them exactly the same for wildlife deaths.

      1. “There should also be a levy on all windmills/solar farms …”

        The provincial government should tax the crap out of these facilities and return the revenue to hydro ratepayers in the form of bill reductions. And municipalities can stop giving them property tax breaks by assessing and taxing them for what they really are: commercial enterprises. They could stop the gravy train dead on its tracks by taking away the profit.

        1. The municipalities had no choice as to the level of taxation that was imposed upon them ( By the GEA) towards these wind installations. It was ridiculously low. Wind developers then tried to bribe the municipalities with “Vibrancy Funds”.
          Give the municipalities to right to tax them at the levels you describe, these turbines will whither in the wind as the $$ dries up.

          1. “The municipalities had no choice as to the level of taxation that was imposed upon them …”

            Oh, they had a choice alright, they could have/should have fought it (GEA) tooth and nail – including the provisions of the GEA that removed their right to determine whether they wanted Wind/solar farms in their communities. But the gutless bastards didn’t raise a whimper. And if you want proof of that, check out the archives for the Rural Ontario Municipal Association. I challenge anyone to find even a feeble protest.

            The mayors and other municipal reps on ROMA utterly abandoned their people for the opportunity to laugh and scratch and lick in McGuinty’s and Wynne’s “Big Tent”.

            http://canadianlandowneralliance.ca/articles/Jamie-MacMaster-Abandonment-Then-and-Now.html

      2. I’m more concerned about the costs of decommissioning the existing wind/solar installations. That’s not going to be cheap, there’s a lot of farmers with those things on their land, and the most likely result is the wind/solar co just declaring bankruptcy and leaving them there for the taxpayers to clean up.

        1. Daniel, on many of the installations there are no decommissioning requirements. So here’s what will happen. The company will come in, strip the facility of salvageable metal and leave the several hundred tonnes of concrete in the farmer’s land.

        2. Perhaps a little additional wind and solar farm land tax may help. Now, we know ther windmlls have a max lifespan of 30 years. Let’s see their cleanup plans. Let’s tax them silly. We could call it a “windfall” tax.

    2. Martin, I agree with all of your comments. Regarding the FIT contracts, the companies will be given a hard choice, and it will go something like this.

      “It’s legal to do this by Resolution of the Legislature. So here’s the deal, you can accept 10 cents on the dollar and walk away, or fight us in court, and your grandchildren might see a court settlement. And you have no way of knowing whether or not you get anything resembling what you’re suing for. So what’s it gonna be?”

      The much more difficult part is the salary caps. Every time the electrical crowns have done this, there have been very bad effects down the road. Believe it or not, but high level compensation is truly a free, unregulated market. Fail to meet expectations and the best available people go off down the road to a company that pays the grade. Ontario Hydro had in its past (before breakup in 1998) about four major hiring freezes and salary caps imposed by government. All of them resulted in severe performance degradation by the generating stations 5-10 years later.

      Your comments on nuclear and gas are spot on. Ontario made a dreadfully bad decision in 2007 when it refused new nuclear and instead jumped for the Green Energy Act. It’s only now, 10 years later when those cancelled plants would have been in operation, that we’re seeing the ruinous effects of that McGuinty/Butts decision. Why? McGuinty and Butts set the tender conditions that any nuclear bid in Ontario at that time was inevitably going to fail because the price had increased so much because of their requirements.

    3. Well Said….very well said.
      What is TRULY sad is that our Municipal, Provincial & for that matter Federal POLITICIANS have this immunity from prosecution. WHY.??

      Seems to me they are our SERVANTS….Not MASTERS.
      They are spending MY money, not theirs…

      As it is now we willingly give them licence to F’k up, Steal and destroy our Provinces , Country and the ability for we the people to live our lives in pursuit of happiness. THAT my friends is beyond Fkd up.

      For 50 years I’ve watched Politicians do this and it continues to anger me large…Ralph Klein, Van der Zalm, Harper & now Trump notwithstanding.

  3. Martin; you say the Libs will wear this, but sincerely how long is the memory of the electorate? You just have to look back at the Rae years, and then see how well Howarth did to realize that all is forgiven and forgotten, so long as you brought a bag of taxpayer money to the trough to feed tax payers with.

    1. Yes possibly true, but in rural counties memories will be longer and they have the monstrosities standing to remind them. I fully expect one or more wind outfits to renege on dismantling and return to foreign domiciles so future taxpayers will bear the brunt of clean up. All in all an enormous mis allocation of funds and not over yet. And if the government does tax them properly, expect them to scrimp on maintenance, leaving the towers even more vulnerable.

      1. Yeah, the 10 people living in a rural county, sure will out weigh the 100,000 people in the Toronto county. As long as population is all that matters, majority stupid carries the day. Your next government is back to the NDP or Liberals. Deal with it.

        Cities, are the end of civilization.
        They produce no food.
        They do not even know where food comes.
        Only that the grocery store has it.
        Food therefore, simply comes from the grocery store.
        It has nothing to do with fossil fuels.
        Nothing to do with property taxes.
        Nothing to do with steel, rubber, computers, …
        Nothing to do with energy costs.
        Nothing to do with regulations or taxes.
        Nothing to do with minimum wage.
        Nothing to do with mining potash.
        Nothing to do with chemicals.
        Nothing to do with diesel exhaust fluid.

        Citiots will always win the day, by always voting for suicide, with good intentions.

  4. This will be a big test of Ford. There are specific promises in there that he can/will be held accountable for.

    If he delivers it will be a boost for Conservative politics across the country.

    1. If he delivers it will be a boost for Conservative politics across the country.
      And maybe give Sheer some spine.

      1. Scheer is letting JT continue digging uninterrupted. The looming immigration crisis will be much much worse for the LPC.

  5. Maybe we could get the Energy East pipeline going again? At least as far as Ontario.

    1. we don’t have the refinery capacity to deal with that….

      Nanticoke Refinery
      Imperial Oil

      Nanticoke, ON

      1978

      112,000
      Sarnia Refinery
      Imperial Oil

      Sarnia, ON

      1897

      121,000
      Corunna Refinery
      Shell Canada

      St. Clair, ON

      1952

      75,000
      Clarkson Refinery 2
      Hollyfrontier

      Mississauga, ON

      1943

      15,600
      Sarnia Refinery
      Suncor Energy

      Sarnia, ON

      1953

      85,000

  6. On a probably much smaller scale, Ford will soon enough be facing similar nasty personal attacks to what Trump has been enduring since his election. We have seen the left’s tank is mostly empty, reduced to hate and the now tiresome cries of racist and Nazi. As per dealing with a hostile media, I can only assume that Doug knows better than most anyone else how voraciously they go after non-conformists to liberalism. Not that his brother didn’t hand them much of that ammunition himself, though.

    Based on his pronouncements so far, I’m guessing the leftist cabal will start by trying to label Ford as a despicable hater of Mother Earth and all minorities. The left’s own history dictates that we will soon be witnessing Ford Derangement Syndrome…. some would say ‘again’.

  7. Cancelling FIT contracts is within the authority of the government. That issue has been tested in Spain where the suckers (leaches) virtually lost everything.

    If the issue is one which is endangering the public good (ie. exhorbitant electricity prices) , then government can step in to rectify the issue. Cancelling FIT contracts is unlikely , but reducing the payment to match non subsidised power would have the same affect and is the only way hydro rates will reduce.

    1. Given the lack of energy from the “green” sources, couldn’t the government just go after the companies involved for non-performance?

    1. There was a time that New York had more Italians in it than Rome. This is not a new issue nor is it a bad thing AS LONG AS ASSIMILATION happens.

      1. and there are many italians today who do not identify as Canadians, they identify as italians. I know, I’v had them tell me so. And even today there is still a large italian problem in many areas south of the border. So gord, what is your point??????

        1. They ultimately do assimilate. Those Italians spoke to you in English. Their insistence that they are more Italian than Canadian is an affectation- not an ethos.

  8. Ford’s For the People: A Plan for Ontario is desperately needed here in CA! Call it the For The People: A Plan to overturn Jerry Brown’s lunacy

  9. Trudeau and his brains behind the curtain will be running scared, thanks to Ontario finally waking up and dumping Wynne and her sorry lot of Liberals. They will be also be comparing Ontario’s Premier Ford to Trump, it will not work, that will be their Waterloo. By the time the federal election rolls around Ford will already be getting things done to bring Ontario back to an affordable place to live and do business.

  10. I agree with an earlier poster here that while ridding Hydro One of its “high-priced help” would be a wonderful gesture, it isn’t sustainable in the long run and execs will ultimately continue to be highly paid. But of course, that’s not really the point.

    You see, that’s the downside of being a highly paid senior exec: whenever the shareholders turn on you or fall out of love with your performance, you’re on your own, and thus you get to be the first to fall on your sword in any major company shake-up or reorg.

    Hopefully, you’ll have already invested a chunk of your earnings to deal with such a potential outcome.

  11. ONTARIO’S GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION TARGET
    IMPACT ON CLIMATE:
    Ontario has a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37% below 1990 levels by the year 2030. This ambitious target means eliminating approximately 66 megatonnes (Mt) of CO₂. Assuming this can be done, what will be the measurable impact on climate?

    TEMPERATURE CHANGE IMPACT – 1°C per 8,913 years:

    According to Nature Climate Change, global temperature increases by 0.000000000017°C per tonne of CO₂. Ontario’s planned emissions reduction of 66 Mt will reduce temperature by:

    66,000,000 t x 0.000000000017°C / t / yr. = 0.00011°C / yr.

    Meeting Ontario’s target would affect global temperature by one degree per 8913 years.

    EQUIVALENT TEMPERATURE IMPACT BY MOVING NORTHWARD 11 METERS PER YEAR:
    Temperature decreases approximately 1°C per 100 kilometers as we move North. The impact of meeting Ontario’s emissions target is:

    0.00011°C / yr. x 100 km / 1°C x 1000 m / km = 11 m / yr.

    We would feel the same impact by moving Northward 14 meters per year.

    EQUIVALENT TEMPERATURE IMPACT BY CLIMBING 2.16 CENTIMETERS PER:
    We know that temperature decreases with altitude at a rate of 6.49°C/km. The impact of Ontario meeting its 2030 target will be:

    0.00011°C /yr. / 6.49°C/km = 0.000017 km / yr.

    This is equivalent to an altitude increase of 1.7 centimeters, or 0.67 inches per year.

    The figures above show that mitigation of global warming by emissions reduction is extremely difficult using existing technology. Ontario’s ambitious target will likely be missed.

    How many billions would this cost? Nobody knows!

    1. Assuming this is not junk, made up, ridiculous, invalid, falsified, disproved and meaningless science, which climate “science” is.

  12. Did I hear rt after the jr & ford meeting jr said ford dont understand the enviroment cabon file?
    Wtf ive yet to hear him or his barbie doll explain to the people the carbon file so we can get a grasp on it, all libs do is dance around the issue with nonsense answers
    And blame conservative mp’s for not uderstanding.

  13. What I think some people miss is that the various energy contracts and other schemes the Wynne government signed were terrible deals.

    In the private sector no business in their right mind would agree to the sort of exit terms that the government agreed to.

    As far as I am concerned Wynne should be in jail for gross negligence in managing taxpayer dollars, and I am not just saying that for dramatic effect.

    Unfortunately we cannot put the cow in jail, but Ford should consider bringing in legislation that mandates that any contract the government signs must go through an independent risk analysis as to the costs should the government choose to exit said contract, and the risks and costs should be fully quantified and if they exceed a given threshold then it would be illegal for the government to sign the contract.

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