Tory vows to fast-track nuke plants
The Toronto Star: Rob Ferguson, Kerry Gillespie & Robert Benzie - September 23, 2007
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory is vowing to fast-track the building
of more nuclear power plants by any means available in an apparent reversal of a
stand he took just months ago.
The pledge came yesterday as energy issues took centre stage in the campaign to
the Oct. 10 provincial election, with NDP Leader Howard Hampton calling for
lower electricity rates to help struggling Northern Ontario mills and Premier
Dalton McGuinty rejecting the idea.
Tory said the nuclear approvals process, including mandatory environmental
assessments, takes "too long" and Ontario can't take a chance on having enough
electricity. It takes nine or 10 years to get a nuclear plant up and running.
"The people of the province need to know that when they get home at the end of a
long day and turn on the lights that those lights will come on," he told
reporters in Tiverton, the Bruce Power nuclear generating station on Lake Huron
looming large behind him. "I think there's a way we can have absolute and
complete consultation and review of these projects and get it done faster if the
will is there."
Tory, a former executive, was critical of lengthy environmental assessments for
new nuclear plants, opposed by the NDP and environmental groups that prefer
conservation and renewable energy to a legacy of radioactive waste.
"The bottom line is that we've got to get on with these things, we are putting
our economy and our environment and our way of life at risk," Tory said, adding
he doesn't know how to speed up projects other than to "streamline or eliminate
duplicative regulatory processes."
But critics said Tory's haste is an about-face from his calls earlier this year
for the resignation of Environment Minister Laurel Broten for exempting the
Liberal nuclear plan from a provincial environmental assessment. Liberals noted
the assessment process for nuclear projects is now entirely federal. "Tory is
sounding more like Dalton McGuinty these days, promising environmental
protection, then ignoring laws and dumping billions into dangerous and
unreliable nuclear power," the NDP's Hampton charged.
A high-ranking Liberal insider said it would be reckless if Tory plans to
circumvent federal environmental assessment laws. "This tells you he doesn't
know what he's talking about," said the source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Hampton said the public should be wary because the Liberal plan alone would cost
$40 billion.
Tory blamed the McGuinty government for dithering over its decision to move
ahead with more nuclear power, leaving the province taking the chance enough
power can be imported from neighbouring states and provinces on hot days to meet
demand. "Mr. McGuinty knew four years ago that we had a supply problem. He had
four years to get nuclear expansion underway and he did not," Tory said.
Campaigning at Variety Village in Scarborough, McGuinty said his government's
approach strikes a balance between the New Democrats and the Tories because the
nuclear plants on his drawing board would largely replace existing nukes to be
phased out. "We need to have a healthy mix of generation and part of that
necessarily has to be nuclear capacity. Close to 50 per cent of our generation
today comes from nuclear," he said.
Electricity is also a hot issue in northern Ontario, but for different reasons.
Hampton proposed cheap-to-produce power from hydroelectric dams on fast- flowing
northern rivers be sold at cost, reversing an industry slide that has lost 9,000
jobs in recent years. The move would cut hydro bills by about one- third.
"All we're doing is simply allowing northern Ontario to take advantage of a
tremendous gift mother nature has given," the NDP leader said at a cliffside
park overlooking five Thunder Bay mills that have cut more than 1,100 positions
recently.
The appearance marked Hampton's second stop of the campaign in Thunder Bay,
where his party is hoping to snare two Liberal seats after New Democrats came
close to defeating two Liberal MPs in the 2006 federal election.
Worries about the future of the forest industry, a major employer in the north,
run deep here because jobs that pay as well are hard to find.
"I'm living on my savings," said Raymond Conrad, who made $28 an hour before he
was laid off from a Bowater mill after 27 years. "I've put in 14 job
applications and I haven't got a letter back."
Conrad said he supports Hampton's plan and expressed anger at the Liberal
refusal to consider it.
"They make power up here and it's cheap and they won't give it to us."
McGuinty said Hampton's idea smacks of a two-tier rate structure that plays
favourites.
"I made a commitment to northern mayors and communities that we'd take a look at
that," the premier told reporters.
"We did a formal study on that and found out that it would not be helpful," he
added, reminding Hampton that northern unemployment is at its lowest point since
the New Democrats were elected in 1990.
The Liberals say they've given almost $1 billion in aid to the forestry sector -
including measures to encourage energy efficiency - and put a cap on prices
Crown-owned Ontario Power Generation can charge, with rebates to mitigate hydro
bills faced by pulp and paper companies.
Hampton rejected McGuinty's two-tier suggestion, saying he's also proposed a
lower rate for industries in southern Ontario to counter the loss of 175,000
manufacturing jobs across the province since 2003.