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June 29, 2009
Queen’s Park - Peter Tabuns, NDP energy critic says the McGuinty Liberals’ decision to suspend the bidding process for new nuclear reactors at Darlington is more evidence that their energy plans are in disarray.
“The McGuinty government has tied Ontario’s energy future to new nuclear plants, which it now admits it can’t afford,” said Tabuns. “By dragging its feet on developing conservation and renewable energy, they have now put our future supply at risk.”
Tabuns noted that the McGuinty Liberals are only pursuing two-thirds of conservation that the Ontario Power Authority deems possible, and they have largely ignored clean sources of baseload power such as imported hydro power from Quebec.
“Now that they have admitted that nuclear power is not cost-effective, it’s time for the government to get serious about other measures to meet Ontario’s energy needs,” said Tabuns.
Minister Smitherman said uncertainty about the future of AECL was another reason for the delay, which Tabuns called a veiled plea for a federal taxpayers to cover the monumental costs of nuclear power.
According to government sources, the tendering process fell apart when AECL Canada simply asked for too much money up front to assume the cost of potential, long-term cost overruns.
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Media Inquiries: Peter Tabuns 416-325-3250 |
