I would like to comment on…

I would like to comment on four areas:

1.  Public ownership.  It is critical that Ontarians own their electrical utilities.  Only if we own these can we begin to regulate the prices Ontarians have to pay for electricity and energy. Otherwise we will continually be at the mercy of private sector organizations, whose primary goal is to make money.

Stop any further sales of Ontario hydro, and begin the process of buying back what has already been sold.

2.  Green energy:  Ontario's policies and investment (ownership) should be focused on green, non-fossil-fuel, non-nuclear sources of energy.  Our biggest challenge is climate change.  We need to do whatever we can to ensure the planet survives.

I was extremely distressed to learn, through the consultation Open Houses,  that I, as a citizen, through my government, owned not one single source of green energy. It is just as important that Ontarians own Wind and Solar electricity producers as hydro electric plants.

3.  Nuclear energy.  Although nuclear energy avoids the immediate pollution and greenhouse gas emission problems of fossil-fuel produced energy, the long term disposal and storage risks have not been solved.  We are creating more and more nuclear waste while merely hoping a solution will be discovered "some day".

This risk is too great.

4. Consultation process.

The two tier consultation process is humiliating to ordinary citizens.  Only "stakeholders" received a planned presentation and comprehensive overview of the Long Term Energy Plan.  For the rest of us (majority of citizens), it was catch as catch can at the public Open House.  What a farce!

This is no way to create an informed electorate.

In contrast, I think back to the climate change consultations, where everyone got treated to a structured overview of the issues, and then everyone's input was heard by the whole room.

Either you value democracy or you don't.  The LTEP consultation process clearly showed that the current Ontario government does not value democracy, and does not value informed citizens.

[Original Comment ID: 207196]