Ontario Update

When we spoke with Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman last fall, he remained committed to powering Ontario’s energy future with a mix of nuclear and renewable energy.

His ideas were echoed in the landmark Green Energy Act which the Ontario government passed in May 2009. It promised to approve renewable energy projects in a more timely and streamlined fashion and expanded government subsidies for green power. It also guaranteed priority access on electricity system for wind, solar, biogas and other renewables.

Environmentalists supported the government’s emphasis on ‘green’ energy but criticized the new legislation’s continued commitment to nuclear power. Support for this expensive form of energy would take money away from renewables they claimed.

In an unexpected move in June 2009, Minster Smitherman indefinitely suspended the provinces competitive bidding process for new nuclear plants. Citing costs that were "billions" of dollars too high, he temporarily halted the process that would lead to the production of new nuclear plants. It remains unclear what the Ontario’s final energy mix will look like.