Readers will know that Ontario premier Ford cares little for environmental matters. One remembers his rash act upon assuming power of enthusiastically tearing up 750 green energy contracts, costing Ontario taxpayers over $230 million.
“I’m so proud of that,” Ford said of his decision. “I’m proud that we actually saved the taxpayers $790 million when we cancelled those terrible, terrible, terrible wind turbines that really for the last 15 years have destroyed our energy file.”
Now that the carbon is coming home to roost, one would hope Ford has gained insight into his monumentally stupid act. One would, of course, be wrong in that hope. Indeed, Ontario's reliance on fossil fuels has grown, seeking to meet energy demands that those torn-up contracts could have easily met, and at a much better price.
Take, for example, the gas power plants that are proliferating, originally touted for occasional use during peak-demand periods.
An investigation by the Toronto Star has found, however, that many of the province’s gas plants are operating far more often than their proponents say, effectively transforming them from rarely used peaker plants into baseload power plants that run almost all the time.
As a result, Ontario’s clean electricity is getting far dirtier, producing millions of tonnes of climate-destabilizing carbon emissions and spewing toxic pollutants into the air in some of the most densely populated urban areas in the province.
“This will make air pollution worse, make climate pollution worse, and negatively affect Ontario’s competitive advantage in having a clean grid,” said Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.
“And on top of that, because fossil gas is so much more expensive than solar, wind and water power, it’s going to increase our electricity bills.”
Like almost everything else this tone-deaf, environmentally-inimical cabal does, the destruction of green-energy projects fits the profile of an administration still stuck in a 1950s mindset, refusing to acknowledge the peril we collectively face.
Here is the view of two Star letter-writers:
A sweet deal for gas companies, not the Earth
Solar power can meet the peak demand
Still not convinced? Well, there is also the matter of the secret 95-year Therme Spa lease at Ontario Place that Mr. Ford has engineered, a contract that will cost taxpayers over $600,000 to build an underground parking lot for its customers. However, the real cost goes beyond the monetary. Building this thing will require the destruction of 1500 trees, but in the minds of the vandals, this is a small price to pay for a "world-class spa." The environment? What environment, they dismissively ask.
It is enough to almost wish that Ford's original vision of a giant ferris wheel, mall and monorail on the waterfront had come to pass.
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