Doug Ford speaking behind a podium at the Vaughn Mayor's gala on June 7, 2023.
Doug Ford speaking at the Vaughn Mayor's gala on June 7, 2023. Credit: Premier of Ontario Photography / Flickr Credit: Premier of Ontario Photography / Flickr

On August 28, Premier Ford made the most consequential announcement of his tenure by announcing “The Largest Competitive Energy Procurement in Ontario History.” To date, there has not been a single word of criticism from any opposition party, not even the NDP. Surprisingly there were no questions from any journalist anywhere. No one said a word.

It was in reality an announcement of the biggest expansion of private for- profit power in Ontario History. It will cost the public and business multiple billions.  With electricity being central to the climate crisis, affordability and democracy, there are important questions to be asked. 

It was clear that developers pushed Ford to open the greenbelt for them to build on at an immediate gain of $8.2 billion. 

Question (1) Who was behind the push for such a huge expansion of private power in Ontario?   

In Ford’s announcement he uses the word affordable nine times. Sprinkled throughout are also claims of low-cost, saving consumers money and competitive pricing. Ford made the exact same promises as Mike Harris when he brought in Hydro deregulation. Complete and utter BS.

According to the Financial Accountability Office, Ford is spending up to $7 billion a year hiding and protecting former Conservative Premier Mike Harris’ deregulated electricity market scheme. This is a market that was designed by Enron and a who’s who from the banking and financial sector. 

Ford is not the first to socialize with the corporate elite. Shortly after Mike Harris was elected, he went fishing with Kenneth Lay, chairman of Enron, in the Northwest Territories.

Question (2) Why do we still have an electricity market that was designed by Enron still open in Ontario?

Which leads us to the following: with such a massive increase in private for- profit power selling into this market, big rate increases are inevitable.

Question (3) Is Ford going to use the public treasury to subsidize these rate increases too? 

There are many more questions particularly on the climate crisis.

Democracy 

Democracy is at risk, not just in the US but here too. With only 17 per cent of voters putting Ford in power last time it is a big issue. Democracy was subverted to take our public power systems. Conservative governments in Ontario have either subverted democracy, bypassed or eroded it to the benefit of the private sector. They have done this a few ways, 

First there was never a mandate from the people to do things like privatization.

Second is what Conservatives call “cutting red tape” making it sound good, but eliminating laws and regulations that require public input and approval.

Finally, the third way and perhaps the worst is whenever Conservatives pass new legislation, they give themselves and their ministers more power to rule by decree with no transparency and no public input whatsoever. 

Mike Harris did it repeatedly, first with Bill 26 “the Omnibus Bill 1996” which also removed a law requiring a binding public referendum anytime a public asset or service was to be sold. Then with his hydro deregulation legislation which was really just one very elaborate bill broken down into three bills for less scrutiny and easier passage in the legislature. Bill 35 Energy Competition Act, the Electricity Act, and the Ontario Energy Board Act, all in 1998. To this day, we are paying through the nose for this legislation.

These four bills gave enormous power to the government and their ministers to make decisions by decree. Now Ford has repeatedly done this. The prime example being Bill 165 “Keeping Energy Costs Down Act” giving themselves more power to rule by decree and the removal of “procedural fairness” entirely.  

Another example is Bill 218 Supporting Ontario’s Recovery Act which shielded private owners of long-term care facilities from being sued for negligence where 4,000 died during the pandemic, many from neglect. Then Ford turned around and gave these same private companies 30- year licenses and hundreds more beds, no public consultation. Ford is under investigation for the Greenbelt.   

There really needs to be investigative reporting here to find out just who is behind Ford’s massive announcement on energy and to defend democracy and the public interest.