September 7, 2010

Electrical industry welcomes Ontario’s creation of standalone energy ministry

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

The demands from provincial government activity in Ontario’s energy sector are expected to increase and having a standalone energy ministry makes sense, industry stakeholders say.

Following an August Queen’s Park shuffle by Premier Dalton McGuinty the former “super-ministry” of energy and infrastructure was split into two individual ministries.

Brad Duguid, former minister of the combined ministries, was handed the minister reins of the new energy ministry. Newcomer to cabinet, Bob Chiarelli, became the infrastructure minister.

Numerous construction industry officials had lobbied the province recently calling for a sole ministry responsible for infrastructure. There was a need for focused attention on the province’s infrastructure from funding deficits to long-term planning, they argued, and the energy portfolio’s demands were quite heavy.

“Even for the most skilled politician it probably was too much work,” said Alex Lolua, director of government and public relations at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

“It is not that people were doing a bad job on the file. It’s that there is so much to do on both energy and infrastructure — it was a prudent move to separate them.”

One Queen’s Park insider said the separation of the two ministries was reflective of the province’s focus on infrastructure and renewable energy initiatives it had launched in recent months. Also, with consultations underway concerning Ontario’s Ten Year Infrastructure Plan, the ministry split points to an infrastructure-heavy pre-election budget in March 2011, with infrastructure and energy benefitting.

“Hopefully some more attention can be directed to the energy file,” said Lolua.

“Brad Duguid has been good on the energy file and we are glad he kept that.”

The provincial energy sector will remain an active portfolio with the continued implementation of the Green Energy Act, pending decisions on nuclear procurement and the Ontario feed-in-tariff program still driving activity in the renewable energy sector. Also, Ontario’s $7-billion renewable power generation deal with a Korean consortium has been heralded as a way to create 7,800 construction jobs and position the province as a major green energy player. Analysts said the province will want a focused minister over a file with all these variables in the mix.

Building Ontario’s green economy is a task “not for the faint of heart and it will take bold steps,” said McGuinty when the $7-billion deal with Samsung C&T Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Corporation was announced in January.

Recently, Canadian Solar Inc. said Guelph will be the site of its wind turbine blade manufacturing plant and a new solar module manufacturing facility expected to create up to 1,400 jobs. This announcement followed one by Siemens and Samsung to build a wind turbine blade plant in Ontario that will create up to 900 direct and indirect jobs.

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