CFN – On Wednesday, Energy Minister Chris Bentley admitted to the Legislative Estimates Committee that the rushed cancellation of a gas-fired power plant in Mississauga, mere days before the October 6 election, was ordered by the Liberal campaign office and will cost Ontario taxpayers at least $180 million. This includes only costs that cannot be recovered, such as labour and materials that can’t be reused. Costs associated with the dismantling and clean-up are yet to be revealed and the Ministry hasn’t yet released the documents related to the dispute settlement.
Greenfield South, the company sole-sourced by the Government to build the power plant, will keep the land and buildings in Mississauga and build a gas-fired plant in rural Lambton. Rather than convert an existing local coal power station, Greenfield South will build a brand new power plant on land provided by OPG. Before the cancellation, the people of Mississauga were told that the power plant had to be built where the power was needed, which leads us to question the motive behind the move to Sarnia.
Local MPP Jim McDonell offered a sobering perspective:
“This money could have been used to hire at least 2000 nurse practitioners, or purchase 90 MRI machines. Residents of Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Prescott and Russell counties could have obtained access to essential health care faster and closer to home through more nurse-practitioner-led clinics. All Dalton McGuinty achieved was a land giveaway, a ballooning bill and an empty concrete shell. The true cost of this and other examples of McGuinty’s mismanagement, such as E-Health, ORNGE Air Ambulance, the Green Energy Act, the WSIB and others, will cost Ontarians tens of billions of dollars. It is little wonder that our income taxes are now the second highest in Canada, our power rates are the highest in North America and our provincial deficit is three times greater than all the other provinces combined”.
The true cost of another power plant cancellation in Oakville remains unknown.
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How do we, as ordinary Canadian citizens call for a Federal RCMP colonoscopy on the provincial Liberal party? There has got to be some higher power that these thieves have to answer to. Where are the checks and balances that keeps this kind of absolute criminal abuse of power from happening? What can we do to stop this assault on future generations who will have to pay for this madness?
Laura, you can’t, The Liberals are circling their wagons to protect each other. We blame the politicians, and the politician blame the voters who elected them. Until we change our voting habits, the 1% club will steal large amounts of public money, and they will laugh at the public behind closed doors,…………all the way to the bank, who also take their cut.
Willie is right Laura. We have the damn Fiberals as government here in Ontario. It was our choice so we deserve what we voted for. What the 1% and the banks don’t steal will probably be gobbled-up by the unions. What a wonderful life we have.