Ontario’s new energy minister is suggesting that nuclear power and innovative new technology would be a more effective way to reduce the province’s environmental footprint than charging a price on carbon.
talking to Focus OntarioEnergy Minister Stephen Lecce is pitching his new plan for the province’s power grid as an environmental policy and trying to convince the federal government it’s a better way to handle climate change than a carbon tax. .
Leese said, “The whole concept of a carbon tax is to change people’s behavior — and their idea, the federal Liberals, is that if we tax people and pensioners and families those dollars are better used than individuals. This will be done in a better way by the government.”
The federal government has said the purpose of a carbon price is to deter people from polluting by making it expensive.
He added, “Our perspective is that we can reduce emissions in this province (and) we choose technology rather than taxation as the way to cut emissions.”
Lecy has spent the week promoting his new energy plan with daily events and media appearances, and has also introduced a proposed legislation that is set to become the backbone of his vision for the province’s future.
As part of the promotional tour, Lecce released a document outlining his vision for a clean, reliable and affordable grid, as well as how to integrate power planning with other aspects of the energy system.
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The strategy follows an announcement from the Independent Electricity System Operator, which said demand is growing faster than ever before and is expected to increase by 75 percent by 2050.
The Ministry of Energy and Electrification said in its document that the province will continue to prioritize nuclear and hydroelectric generation for baseload power, but Ontario also needs natural gas generation for reliability because it is more capable of responding to peak demands.
“We’re going to reduce three times the emissions we generate from the grid,” Lecce said. Focus Ontario“The program we have unveiled is really looking at non-emitting alternatives and the legislation signals clearly: nuclear is the future.”
However, critics have said that the Ford government has slipped on energy matters.
He says the increasing reliance on natural gas to generate electricity, as nuclear power stations are renovated, means the grid is dirtier, at least on days when demand is highest.
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said, “The grid is 10 percent dirtier under this government and will get even dirtier as gas plants expand.”
“This is going to hurt our economy. “This is going to increase bills and increase climate pollution.”
The Ford government has made a federal price on carbon one of its major attack lines on both the federal Liberal Party and its sister party in Ontario. The province has claimed this makes life more expensive without reducing emissions.
The government is so keen on the line that at a press conference in October, Premier Doug Ford said the next price increase would be expected on April 1, nearly six months before it would take effect.
“Just think, friends, the crisis is going down on April 1,” Ford said in the October 11 announcement.
“The feds are going to add the worst tax ever, the carbon tax. So you’re going to pay 20 cents per liter – they already have 17 cents – another three cents on every small amount of gas.’
The federal government’s website presents its rationale for imposing a price on carbon, which it says is designed to deter people from emitting.
“Pricing carbon pollution is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. It gives people and businesses a financial incentive to pollute less,” the government site states.
Leese said he presented his vision as an alternative to the federal government — but did not say there was much interest in accepting it.
“I met with federal ministers, I put the case to them, we have an alternative to a carbon tax,” he said.
“We can use clean technology, Ontario-based technology, export it around the world. The federal government must work with Ontario to deploy our clean technology, nuclear technology and our clean power in the U.S.
“We can dramatically reduce emissions, we can create huge amounts of revenue and jobs for Ontarians.”
Focus Ontario premieres Saturday, October 26 at 5:30 pm on Global TV.
– With files from The Canadian Press.
©2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
