Toronto Star, Brady Yauch
Ontario’s desire for total control over all aspects of the electricity sector is nearly fulfilled.
The push to eliminate dissent and independent review of the province’s energy monopolies has been a decade in the making. Since 2004, many of the province’s largest and most expensive policies were implemented with little to no oversight — at great cost to ratepayers, as the Auditor General forcefully highlighted in her recent annual report.
But Queen’s Park is set to fully take over all decision-making regarding the province’s energy monopolies by solidifying its control over the province’s energy regulator, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), with the recent passing of Bill 112. In doing so, Ontario is shutting down the last arena of independent public review of the billions of dollars being spent by the province and its many publicly owned utilities.
The legislation, “Strengthening Consumer Protection and Electricity System Oversight Act,” would deny independent intervenors the funds needed to hire the lawyers and experts needed at these hearings, effectively blocking their participation.
Prior to this legislation, any individual ratepayer or organization representing ratepayers — ranging from big, industrial groups to cottage associations or low-income organizations — could apply for funding and act as an intervenor in any rate application. The government would instead replace the independent intervenors with a new government-appointed consumer representative.
In other jurisdictions where this has occurred, the direct cost of this new bureaucracy has been far more expensive than the cost of reimbursing intervenors for their lawyers and consultants. The indirect costs of losing the ability to hold the utility monopolies to account by forcing them to justify their proposed rate increases before the OEB could be much greater still. Read article
Does this mean victims of industrial wind turbines will be silenced?
Climate Summit for Local Leaders, Paris, Dec.4, 2015
‘The Climate Summit for Local Leaders is a Historic Convening of Local Leaders Fighting Climate Change’
Notable speakers included:
Michael Bloomberg
Denis Coderre, Montreal Mayor
Al Gore
Jeffrey Sachs
Participation in the Summit was by invitation only to mayors and local leaders.
http://climatesummitlocalleaders.paris
Montreal Summit On Innovation, Nov.30,2015
CLIMATE (OF) CHANGE: CITIES, PEOPLE AND PROSPERITY
Speakers included:
David Suzuki
Denis Coderre
Jeffrey Sachs
Karen Clarke-Whistler
http://www.btmm.qc.ca/en/m_sf_smi_1115
UBC, Oct.22, 2015
‘The Lind Initiative Presents: A Discussion With Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute’
Webcast included at: http://www.100.ubc.ca/events/the-lind-initiative-jeffrey-sachs
INET/Institute for New Economic Thinking, New York City
Founded by: Jim Balsillie, William Janeway and George Soros.
INET Expert: Jeffrey D. Sachs.
http://www.ineteconomics.org/community/experts/jdsachs
Wikipedia: William H. Janeway
Member of:
U.S. Social Science Research Council
Governing Board of INET, New York City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Janeway