Ontario’s bold plan to become an electricity superpower

Article content

“My mission is to disrupt, to light a fire under the entire energy sector,†declares Stephen Lecce, Ontarioâ€s 37-year-old minister of energy and electrification in a recent phone conversation.

After the briefest hesitation, the minister reframes: “Maybe, you know, a different way of saying it, Donna; my mission is to inspire change and reform and a greater level of ambition.â€

Article content

Either way, heâ€s pitching a bold plan to make Ontario an electricity superpower that ought to give people a jolt. The provinceâ€s Independent Electricity System Operator forecasts that by 2050, Ontarioâ€s demand for electricity will increase by an eye-popping 75 per cent. Thatâ€s the equivalent of adding four-and-a-half cities the size of Toronto to the grid.

Lecceâ€s home is in the picturesque village of Kleinberg, also home to the McMichaels†shrine to Group of Seven artists. First elected as PC MPP for King-Vaughan in 2018, Lecce was Ontarioâ€s minister of education from 2019 to 2024, volatile years during which he deftly dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and strike action by Ontarioâ€s largest teachers†unions. He even dared to mandate Holocaust learning for the first time in Ontarioâ€s elementary schools.

In June, Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffled Lecce from the education file to energy and electrification, reportedly to inject a little more aggressiveness into the portfolio. When you go toe-to-toe with the Trudeau government — on the carbon tax, the Clean Electricity Regulations, and their embrace of renewables — feisty is a prerequisite. Lecceâ€s got the mettle to withstand intense public heat, and his reputation as Stephen Harperâ€s onetime boy wonder, directing media traffic for the Prime Ministerâ€s Office, no doubt sharpens that edge.

Article content

Article content

“My position as the minister is that we should be using the lowest price options, instead of ideology,†Lecce explains, when I ask about the rationale behind his recently tabled “affordable energy†legislation. “The opposition wants to romanticize certain resources,†the minister continues, “but if we put all of our eggs in that basket, in the renewables basket, we would create significant reliability issues and likely higher prices.â€

Nuclear energy will be the anchor for base-load power in the ministerâ€s clean but not necessarily green energy plan. Chernobyl, Fukushima and nuclear waste gave nuclear a bad reputation, but the reliable, carbon-free energy source seems to be experiencing a renaissance. Even Three Mile Island, site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in American history, is slated to reopen, to power Microsoftâ€s data centres.

“We are seeing forces on the left, the liberal left, who cannot come to terms with the fact that in order to decarbonize, weâ€re going to need nuclear non-emitting power,†says Lecce. “So weâ€re prepared to have that debate here in Ontario, but we hope we can build a consensus.â€

Article content

Most of Ontarioâ€s electricity is already generated at nuclear and hydro plants. “And weâ€re going to expand on the hydroelectric side,†Lecce explains. “We think thereâ€s some additional investments we could make to extend the life of those assets.†But for the longer term, nuclear is the obvious solution, he reports, and the province is already moving forward with projects to extend the life of nuclear generation stations at Bruce and Pickering, and four small modular reactors are being added at Darlington.

(Lecceâ€s predecessor in this ministerial portfolio, Todd Smith, also saw the potential of nuclear power as a clean energy option — so much so, he resigned as MPP for Bay of Quinte this August to take up an executive position with a subsidiary of Montreal-based Atkins Real (formerly SNC Lavalin) to market CANDU nuclear reactor technology to the world.)

Weâ€re going to end the idiocy of the former Liberals, who were selling power at a massive discount, selling it at a loss

Itâ€s an ambitious plan to build out nuclear generation, but how will all that power be moved to consumers? I grew up on a multi-generational farm in southwestern Ontario; in the 1980s, a 500-kV transmission line from the Bruce nuclear plant to the U.S. border cut a wide swath through our farm, uprooting my family.

Article content

“I think the people of Ontario are a willing host,†Lecce responds. “I think they understand that we need energy, we need it to be affordable because they remember those dark days — the decade of darkness under the Wynne-McGuinty Liberals — that led to the most expensive energy on the continent. Ontario families I think are responsible and they want to be part of the solution.â€

And, he adds: “Unlike the Liberals who imposed Queenâ€s Park on small towns and cities across Ontario,†he says theyâ€re putting communities in the driverâ€s seat and protecting prime agricultural lands.

I hope heâ€s right, because Ontarioâ€s pro-market, pro-jobs, pro-growth agenda — “a renaissance of industrial growth and manufacturing,†the minister enthuses — needs to be powered.

And competition for electricity is stiff. Big Tech companies with deep pockets are testing commercial and regulatory boundaries in their quest for round-the-clock power to feed their AI business. Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a proposal that would have allowed an Amazon data centre to co-locate at an existing nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

Article content

Lecceâ€s met with Americaâ€s assistant secretary of energy to lay the groundwork for a massive expansion of inter-ties to ramp up the flow of power between Ontario and the U.S. But, the astute politician assures me, “The first priority of our government is to ensure we have energy for Ontarians and for our country, in that order.â€

“We see the U.S. market as a massive economic opportunity for Ontario,†Lecce continues. “Weâ€re already a net exporter of power into the U.S. However, the difference is weâ€re going to end the idiocy of the former Liberals, who were selling power at a massive discount, selling it at a loss.â€

Lecceâ€s aim is to sell power to Americans, via long-term purchase agreements: “We will sell at a premium,†he quips, “just like the U.S. was selling to us at a premium.†Earlier this year, drought conditions throughout much of Canada led to a 12.5 per cent year-over-year drop in hydroelectricity generation and for the first time in nearly a decade, Canada imported more electricity from the U.S. than it exported.

Electricity principally flows north-south in Canada, but Ontario also sells energy to Quebec, the minister reports. “We sell each other energy because we have a very complementary grid,†he explains. His vision is to “sell to any willing partner, so long as we receive long-term contracts where we can derive the maximum benefit for Ontario families.â€

Article content

Itâ€s a bold plan: Deploying large-scale nuclear power and small modular reactors to deliver affordable, reliable, clean electricity without a costly carbon tax. But itâ€s not brash; the provinceâ€s first full-scale nuclear power plant was launched in the 1960s.  And even the greenest politicians are coming clean on the impact of rising electricity rates; a recent executive order by California Gov. Gavin Newsom mandates that “electric service remains affordable, reliable and safe for all Californians during our clean energy transition.â€

Special to National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content