Ontario's expensive green energy means consumers overcharged $37 billion

[Anonymous]

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/alberta-feds-to-copy-ontario-energy-plan">http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/al ... nergy-plan">http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/alberta-feds-to-copy-ontario-energy-plan

Why should anyone outside Ontario be interested in the annual report of that province's Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk? Because Ms. Lysyk's report, released Wednesday, foreshadows Canada's energy future under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta's electricity future under NDP Premier Rachel Notley.



Lysyk found that since Ontario's eco-obsessed Liberal government began to phase out coal-fired power plants eight years ago, that province's consumers have overpaid for their electricity by $37-billion. That's nearly $5 billion a year sucked out of the pockets of families and businesses just to fund the government's "green" dream of replacing coal with wind and solar power.



The average family has paid an extra $165 a year on their electricity bills, while the typical business has paid an average 70% extra for "green" power.



During this same period, Ontario has lost nearly a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs. Since electricity is one of the largest input costs for manufacturers, it's hardly a surprise that this spike in power costs has compelled hundreds of manufacturers, large and small, to pull up stakes and move to the States and elsewhere.



Also, according to Lysyk's calculations, the overpayments will jump to nearly $8 billion annually beginning this year through to 2032.



That's an additional $133 billion sucked out of the Ontario economy over the next decade-and-a-half – a huge impediment to economic growth – all because Ontario's Liberals are stubbornly determined to shut down coal-fired power plants in the name of saving the planet.



On top of a nearly doubling of electricity prices, Ontario has also seen a drop of nearly 10% in it electrical supply.



The biggest reason for all this chaos? Political decision-making and interference trumped market forces.



According to Lysyk, the Liberal cabinet first of Premier Dalton McGuinty and now Premier Kathleen Wynne, "made a number of decisions about power generation that went against the (Ontario Power Authority's) technical advice and did not fully consider the state of the electricity market."



The same is about to occur in Canada and especially in Alberta.



Just three weeks after winning an upset majority in Alberta's provincial election last May, NDP Premier Rachel Notley said she wanted to follow Ontario's lead on electricity. Then two weeks ago, Notley confirmed her government would be shuttering all of Alberta's 18 coal-fired generators and replacing them mostly with wind power.



Just as the Ontario Liberals have done, Notley claims this transition can be achieved with little cost to consumers and no disruption in the provincial power grid.



Sure, she admits, her government will be implementing a carbon tax expected to bring in somewhere between $3 billion and $4 billion a year, but Notley insists most of that will be quickly returned to consumers in the form of rebates for 60% of Albertans, especially First Nations.



But by some estimates, relying on wind to replace the 60% of Alberta electricity generated by coal will require the construction of 28,000 turbines. That alone would cost up to $4 billion, not counting the cost of land purchases and leases for turbine sites.



Lefty politicians and think tanks will tell Canadians and Albertans over and over that Trudeau's "green infrastructure" plan and Notley's scheme will not cost consumers or taxpayers extra. They will insist it will create jobs, not kill them. They will maintain shifting from coal to wind will be seamless.



Despite the evidence glaring them in the face, Ontario Liberals continue to make the same claims.



But wishing and hoping (and self-delusion) doesn't make it so.



Because of government meddling and huge subsidies to alternate power providers, Ontarians now pay double the market price for wind power and triple the price for solar.



Since Alberta is more than twice as dependent on coal as Ontario ever was, the costs here could be even greater.

[Anonymous]

Trudeau and Wynn are close. Let's hope he does not use Ontario's green energy disaster as his model to combat climate change.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/if-trudeau-acts-like-wynne-watch-out-canada">http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/if ... out-canada">http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/05/if-trudeau-acts-like-wynne-watch-out-canada

The same week the governor general delivered the first throne speech of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, the Ontario Liberals were once again facing damning headlines.



If the federal Liberals follow the same path as their Ontario counterparts, Canadians will be in for a rough ride.



On Friday, the throne speech talked about "an even better, more peaceful and prosperous world for our children." Sounds like a good plan.



But only days before, an Ontario auditor general's report reminded us the provincial Liberals aren't exactly delivering on prosperity.



The report revealed the government's energy choices "resulted in significant costs to electricity consumers." From 2006 to 2012, consumers paid $37 billion more than necessary — all because of Liberal decisions. It's nothing short of scandalous.



Feel-good green schemes resulted in hardworking people's wallets taking an unnecessary hit — and the auditor general explained it's only going to continue. The primary purpose of a political leader is to serve the people, yet on the energy file, the government has made the people its servants.



Of course it didn't start out this way. The Ontario Liberal era began in 2003, with Dalton McGuinty elected on a platform of optimism, replacing a Progressive Conservative government the voters grew to dislike.



He campaigned on "choose change" — echoed in Trudeau's "real change" — and promised no new taxes — a promise he later broke.



When pondering whether Trudeau's currently optimistic path could likewise sour, it's important to consider just how closely linked Trudeau's setup is to Kathleen Wynne's.



Ideologically, Trudeau and Wynne are tied at the hip. She is his political godmother. While the prime minister has previously said he's more of a Wilfrid Laurier Liberal than a Pierre Trudeau Liberal — he actually got his signature "sunny ways" phrase from the 7th prime minister — in all practical purposes he's really a Wynne Liberal.



They both campaigned on calling themselves the most progressive option and both successfully muscled out their pragmatic NDP opponents.



Trudeau's plans to see all provinces put a price on carbon and to expand mandatory Canada Pension Plan contributions both have origins in Ontario policy. Both also result in less money in peoples' pockets.



Trudeau's two top staffers — Gerald Butts and Katie Telford — were both prominent Ontario staffers during the McGuinty years. And now reports tell us Wynne staffers are flocking to Ottawa to work in Trudeau's office.



This in itself isn't wrong. When Stephen Harper was elected prime minister, much of his Ontario contingent were politicians or staffers from former premier Mike Harris' era. There's a limited talent pool and people in demand follow good opportunities.



But what this shows is just how likely it is Trudeau's government will have a similar culture to Wynne's.



If the Ontario Liberals let green energy choices cost consumers $9.2 billion, will Trudeau also let green schemes mess up federal finances?



During the 2011 election, the provincial Liberals committed to cancelling two gas plants as a campaign move, a decision that cost taxpayers at least $950 million, according to the auditor general. (Wynne was co-chair of that campaign.) Would the Trudeau team ever campaign so cynically? It's a legitimate question.



Since the Liberal era began in Ontario, both the budget and the debt have doubled in size. This sort of government growth is unsustainable. Will this repeat federally?



Thankfully, during the federal campaign Trudeau committed to maintaining Stephen Harper's policy of decreasing the debt-to-GDP ratio.



But that was before Finance Minister Bill Morneau gave a fall update explaining things were worse off than they initially thought – and he declined to answer whether they were sticking to their plan of $10-billion deficits for the first three years. The deficits could be larger.



There will be times when Trudeau can't govern exactly as he promised or as he would like. Sunny ways will give way to grey skies. And that's OK. That's just the reality of governing in an ever-changing world.



But when Trudeau campaigned under the "real change" banner and promised to do politics differently, let's hope he didn't just mean he'd be different than Stephen Harper. Let's hope he also plans to avoid the politics practised by the Ontario Liberal brand. If not, watch out Canada.

[Anonymous]

We now have a carbon tax in Alberta..



I read that we can expect our electricity bills to rise three hundred percent.