Ontarians will go to the polls next October to elect their provincial government.
If last September's provincial by-election in Toronto is any indication, energy policy and ethics will play a major role in the next election. Indeed, the new NDP MPP who won the by-election claims energy was the defining issue in that campaign.
It should come as no surprise that energy would break out from the pack of issues to dominate the campaign, outstripping health care, education, crime, and mud-slinging in this inner-city riding.
Energy policy
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Parkland Institute of the University of Alberta have jointly published a study by Dr. John W. Warnock on the oil and gas industry, with a special case study of the situation in Saskatchewan. Dr. Warnock recently retired from teachingpolitical economy at the University of Regina.
Imagine you are buying a new house that is so expensive your kids will get stuck with paying off the mortgage; so modern the design has only been used for a decade; and so risky that all previous construction attempts were unsuccessful. You are to sign the purchase contract without checking out what went wrong with the previous failures. In addition, the contract contains a clause that states you can never sell, trade, or otherwise get rid of the house.
This is pretty much the electricity deal the McGuinty government is signing on behalf of the citizens of Ontario.
On March 8, Premier Ralph Klein made a remarkable and admirable pledge.
"If we see oil drying up and we see the Alberta supply being threatened and the Canadian supply being threatened, we can do whatever is necessary to ensure that Canada receives its supplies first."
To show that this astonishing promise was not one of the premier's famous offhand comments, two ministers echoed Klein's remarks. "When we look at the long-term need for Alberta and Canada", stated Energy Minister Greg Melchin, "those are first and paramount."
Inside this issue:
Private Power Developers and the BC Government's Water Licence Giveaway
BC's Coastal Forest Communities Need a New Deal
Picking the Pockets of the Poor: The Price of BC's Welfare Cuts
Bucking the National Trend: Poverty Among Lone Mothers in BC
Time to End the Government's Love Affair with P3s
The Ontario government is giving away the right of the province’s citizens to make decisions on electricity, the environment, and major social policy. Premier Dalton McGuinty, without a mandate or popular support, is making Ontario part of the U.S. electricity market. If the government doesn’t change direction soon, Ontario will become a have-not electrical energy province, with big U.S. energy corporations in the driver’s seat. Fighting with Americans over softwood lumber and beef is tough enough. Just imagine having to struggle against them to keep the lights on.
HALIFAX: Low income households are still vulnerable to increased energy costs according to a report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). "Our winters of discontent: Addressing the problem of rising home heating costs”, examines the Nova Scotia government's “Keep the Heat” program, and the proposal to remove the HST from home heating fuel.