It will take real action to protect Ontario’s energy independence, not press releases

The announcement will do nothing to end Ontario’s growing dependence on American fossil gas imports, nor stop OPG from buying American-designed nuclear reactors – thanks to large loopholes in the policy. And that’s simply not good enough.

There is no better way for Ontario to send a message about the need to end attacks on our economy and our sovereignty than by reducing our demand for American energy. Yet the Ford government continues to track in the opposite direction, increasing our dependence on American gas for electricity generation and doing far too little to help Ontario residents reduce their need for gas for home heating.    

Instead of buying more and more American gas (more than 70% of our gas comes from the US), the Ford Government could be lighting a fire under our homegrown renewable energy sector. Solar and wind plus storage is now the lowest cost way to meet the growing need for electricity, yet Ontario lags the world in deploying these zero emission technologies.  

Instead of making it easy and attractive to install solar panels over parking lots, on roof tops and on marginal land, the government continues to prioritize building or expanding gas plants. Instead of removing the political moratorium on offshore wind in the Great Lakes, it continues to tell us that burning more polluting American gas is unavoidable.  

It seems the government is so deeply invested in the idea of building first-of-their-kind nuclear reactors designed by American-owned GE-Hitachi that it is unwilling to let any other lower cost or faster to deploy solutions get in the way. These reactors will, unbelievably, require buying enriched uranium from the United States for the lifetime of the reactors. What if President Trump turns off the tap?

And, no, we can’t just pop up a uranium enrichment plant somewhere in Canada: It would cost at least $100 billion to build and – get this – would require American permission under international treaties that aim to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The idea that after rolling the dice on these unproven reactors Ontario will be well positioned to become a major exporter of this technology is equally ludicrous. First, the technology is not even remotely cost competitive with solar and wind power combined with storage. Second, how happy is Donald Trump going to be to see Ontario selling American-developed technology internationally?

The Ford government needs to take real action to lower our dependence on American energy by tripling solar and wind power in Ontario – including offshore wind – and by directing Ontario’s electric utilities (e.g., Hydro One, Toronto Hydro) to provide easy to access, no-money-down, zero-interest financing for the installation of electric heat pumpsin our homes instead of gas furnaces. 

By taking these steps, the government can move beyond empty press releases and demonstrate a genuine commitment to protecting Ontario’s energy independence.

Send your own message to Premier Ford, Minister Lecce, party leaders and your MPP here.

Thanks for helping protect Ontario. Please pass this bulletin onto your friends and share on your social media feeds, including the Bluesky post below:

Angela Bischoff, Director