It's interesting, isn't it, that canceling those hundreds of renewable energy projects when he was first elected was estimated to cost Ontario $230 million which is exactly the same amount that canceling the gas fired power plants cost us under Kathleen Wynne. I hope this is remembered as the Doug Ford Renewable Energy Scandal.
He hasn't shifted his position because he now supports green energy. He has shifted his position because renewables are now FAR more affordable than fossil fuel or nuclear. It's purely economic.
Cancelling those projects was an act of pure right wing virtue signalling. The $230 million is only the tip of the iceberg.
What you have to ask yourself is this:
How much money would Ontario families have saved since 2018 if we had had cheaper, cleaner renewable energy on the grid?
How much more is it going to cost to build those projects in 2025 and 2026 than it would have to build them in 2018 and 2019?
How far has this put Ontario behind Europe and Asia where they are all in on renewable energy?
The $230 million act of extremist right wing political theater is going to cost Ontario billions of dollars over the coming years and has put us a decade behind the rest of the world (other than the US, of course.)
One of Doug Ford's first acts as premier of Ontario, just days after taking office in 2018, was cancelling more than 750 renewable energy projects, including a large wind farm that was already partially built.
Fast forward to today, and Ford's Progressive Conservative government is poised to oversee the biggest expansion of green energy that the province has seen in nearly a decade.
I wonder how much money has been wasted compared to just going letting the original projects go ahead as planned.