Wasn’t the plan to deal with Trump’s tariffs to make us less dependent on the US.
Why then is both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney committing us to being very dependent on a nuclear power future with the US?
Building new US GE-Hitachi nuclear reactors to meet Ontario’s growing electricity demands is a terrible mistake. They cost two-to-eight times more than new wind and solar. These reactors depend on enriched uranium imports from the US which Trump could cut off anytime he wanted, to weaken us.
We once had forward looking politicians who brought in non-profit public power in 1905. Rates dropped by 50 per cent and brought in 94 years of prosperity for the whole country. The climate crisis is a threat to our very survival and to face it now, more than ever, we need forward looking politicians once again. Where are they? It seems all our politicians support the for- profit model of energy production, condemning us and the planet.
One of the biggest concerns in Ford’s and Carney’s nuclear power plan is the public-private partnership (P3) financing of new nuclear plants, particularly these experimental and unproven Small Modular Reactors (SMR)’s. P3 financing is the most insidious form of privatization.
P3 investors expect a good return. There is no free money. We must remember the $34 billion debt at the old Ontario Hydro was almost entirely nuclear debt which clearly shows just how expensive nuclear power is to build and maintain. Adding in profits is just going to make nuclear power ridiculously expensive.
The mining and production of nuclear fuel is a very dirty business and creates a lot of CO2 pollution.
Private investors never talk about the waste problem. Conservative politicians always talk about “efficiencies.” A large part of nuclear power is lost to heat and line loss. A big question. Where is the conservation? You will never see private investors call for conservation. Using less power from real conservation measures, means less demand and less profit.
In August 2024, Ford announced the biggest expansion of private power in Ontario’s history. Ford made the exact same lower rate promise as Mike Harris when he brought in Hydro deregulation. In Ford’s announcement he used the word affordable nine times and claimed lower cost, saving consumers money. Here’s how Harris’s promise of lower rates turned out: By 2007 rates doubled. By 2010 rates had tripled and by 2018 rates had quadrupled.
According to Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office, Ford is spending up to $7 billion a year hiding and protecting Mike Harris’ deregulated electricity market scheme. Currently Ford guarantees the profits and the taxpayers get the bill. Is Ford going to use the public treasury to subsidize the inevitable rate increases from private nuclear too?
Climate crisis denying Conservative politicians are going in the opposite direction making the climate crisis worse. They are continuing to build high CO2 producing, highly profitable, private gas plants. As well as giving us BS about carbon capture and storage in the oil industry.
Most politicians have no clue about the cost to change over to a green power system. If every driver in Ontario plugged in an electric vehicle after work at the same time when demand is already at a peak time, the system would fail quite dramatically. The transition will require massive investment in generation, transmission and particularly distribution, including charging stations and home charging units.
A number of countries have recognized the fact that the transition over to conservation and renewables will never happen under a for-profit system and have brought in public green power companies. Australia has brought in publicly owned green energy companies. In Europe, nine countries leading the energy transition, have brought in public green power companies. Ford has repeatedly called nuclear power “clean and affordable.” That’s like calling lasagna and cheesecake weight loss foods.
Public green power will help us even have a future. And a much more affordable one. A dead planet profits no one.
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