Ontario ’s power system is undergoing a massive restructuring, costing an estimated $60+ Billion for capital expenditures.  Eighty percent of resources will be replaced with higher priced supply at a time when energy costs are an instrumental cause of thousands of job losses, industry and business investment is waning, and there is widespread concern for rising home energy costs. 

 Our analysis of the proposed Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP), now before the Ontario Energy Board, leads us to conclude that the real issues of reliable and affordable electricity planning for future are radically impeded by Ministerial directives, including the coal closure mandate.  The Ministry and the OPA have precipitously engaged in contracts and procurement initiatives for a considerable part of the generation mix before the IPSP process was underway.

 Although the OPA has a primary function “to plan for the future of Ontario ’s power system by integrating the broad array of industry, environmental and societal considerations ...”, the Energy Minister’s directives to the OPA have prejudiced the outcome.  Political will is driving the electricity planning, in spite of industrial and societal considerations and without full investigation of the environmental criteria that it purports to champion.  Warnings and concerns raised by industrial, farming and the business sectors – the economic drivers in this Province – are not being heeded.  In fact, they are blatantly ignored.