Category Archives: Energy

(December 1, 1993) If I were Bob Rae, on assuming power I would have immediately understood that Ontario Hydro was more than a monster out of control, I would have seen Hydro as the biggest impediment to the sound finances required for a progressive social agenda. And I would see as the roadblocks to changing Hydro all the vested interests in public power. Those vested interests being, in different ways, big business and the unions, environmentalists and the captive NUG community. Continue reading →

(April 22, 1993) Thank you, Mayor June Rowland, for hosting this panel discussion, and for giving me the opportunity to discuss public and private power systems – a subject that has long been near and dear to Energy Probe. As many of you know, Energy Probe has been promoting a diversified – public and private – energy system for more than a decade now, and we’re delighted to see that so much of the world is moving in that direction. Continue reading →

(March 10, 1993) The man has performed miracles since taking the helm of the continent’s most inefficient utility barely three months ago. Think of the challenge before him last December: an organization that needed 24% more staff than Canada’s other utilities to produce a kilowatt hour of power. Wages and benefits that averaged $69,000 per person. Tottering nuclear plants that needed billions in repairs. The Darlington nuclear plant, $10 billion over budget. Continue reading →

(March 18, 1992) Thank you. You can’t know how heartening it is for me to see the MEA holding this conference, with privatization issues. so prominent. Just one year ago, most people considered many of the issues at this conference to be all-but-irrelevant to Ontario In fact, when the Environ mental Assessment Board examining Ontario Hydro’s 25-Year-Plan decided to hear evidence from Energy Probe about privatizations occurring around the world, the MEA objected, and even went to Court to try to stop the Board from hearing our views. Continue reading →