Wynne's new idiotic climate change plan for June release

[gauge33]

Say good bye to natural gas and be the first to convert to electric heating and pay up to $3000 more a year. Be the first to give yourself subsidies for the affordable electric car not yet produced, oh but there will be Wynne subsidies when you buy one up to $14000. Yikes that's taxpayers money to subsidise the rich who can afford one.

"the province’s gas industry warns that, based on current prices, switching to electric heat would cost homeowners between $2,000 and $3,000 extra annually. The industry is particularly concerned about the planned changes to the building code that would kick natural gas out of new homes by the end of the next decade."

“The province is still proposing to meet its 2025 carbon reduction targets in part by forcing Ontarians to pay themselves subsidies to buy electric vehicles that won’t actually exist,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/energy-auto-sectors-raise-red-flags-over-ontario-climat...

[pierrelebel]

Here is an interesting perspective comparing heating by gas vs electricity.

http://callmepower.ca/en/faq/electricity-or-gas/furnace

The answer may not be as "black and white" as suggested by partisan conservative supporters.

[rosscd57]

Ah yes the electric car - great for California. I figure when the temp hits below freezing the electric car will go about 20 Klick and the battery will quit.

[gauge33]

Yes zero weather cuts significantly into the power and run time of a fully charged lithium battery. I can attest to that as I use lithium batteries to power my radio control model airplanes and premium batteries are expensive. In addition they typically last 3-5 years depending on usage time. For a Chevy Volt or similar electric car a replacement will be around the $5000. Maybe for a smaller hybrid $3000.     

[gauge33]

4 ways Ontario’s climate change plan could affect you

Details of the Ontario Climate Change Action Plan, as reported by The Globe and Mail, have revealed that a hefty portion of the $7-billion plan is being set aside for energy-efficient subsidies and incentives. The plan will cost you $13 a month—a significantly cheaper alternative to a carbon tax, according to the released summary of an internal government report. While Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne promises nothing is set in stone, here’s how the plan as it’s currently proposed may impact your incentive to go green:

1. Access to subsidies for buying an electric vehicle

According to the Globe, the Ontario government plans for $285-million in incentives for electric vehicles, which also include plug-in hybrid vehicles. Those who purchase an electric vehicle will not only forgo paying HST but could also get a rebate of up to $14,000, depending on the car and lease. Under the boosted Electric Vehicle Incentive Program that was effective in the province as of February 2016, if you buy a Tesla Model S on a three-year lease, for example, you could be eligible for a $3,000 rebate. A 2016 Chevrolet Volt on the other hand, would get you a $11,517 rebate on a three-year lease.

If you decide to install a home charging station for the vehicle, the government may give you a rebate of up to $1,000. The Globe also mentioned the province’s plans to offer free overnight electricity for charging those vehicles, but whether that refers to home charging or government charging stations is unclear. (The province is already planning to install over 250 charging locations at businesses like Tim Hortons and McDonald’s by March 2017 under the Electric Vehicle Chargers Ontario initiative.) The government will also provide additional subsidies for low- and moderate-income families to switch older cars for electric vehicles.

Will I have to pay environmental fees for my 2016 vehicle? »

2. You’ll be rewarded for buying an efficient home

The government is also planning to offer incentives to those who purchase new, energy-efficient homes. If you’re looking to buy a house that doesn’t use natural gas heating, you could be eligible for a rebate of up to $20,000.

3. Selling your home? Get ready to be audited

“If you’re selling your house, and you invested in energy-efficiency, it sends a signal that your house is worth more than your neighbours’,” says Brady Yauch, Executive Director of the Consumer Policy Institute. The Globe report explains that those retrofits will be encouraged through mandatory energy-efficiency audits for every single-family home sold in the province.

Home energy makeover »

4. No more fossil fuels

Yauch points out that small towns across Ontario have been going the opposite direction as the provincial government’s proposed plan. “They’ve been dying to get on the natural gas grid, because cost-savings of heating your house on natural gas is significant, estimated to be thousands of dollars cheaper [than electric heating],” says Yauch. Instead, the government is planning building code changes that’ll make sure new homes built after 2030 won’t use fossil fuels like natural gas for heating, and instead rely on electric heating. According to a 2011 Statistics Canada survey, 76% of Ontario households use natural gas as their main heating fuel, meaning this proposed plan, if approved, could mark a massive switchover.

Save up to $600 on heating and air conditioning costs »

[pierrelebel]

Mary and I approve the plan making our planet a bit safer and cleaner for our grandchildren.  Do you?

Don't you wish all other jurisdictions around the globe would take global warming that seriously and do something about it?

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Everyone knows that his complaints are not 'really' about climate change but predominantly about "I don't like Liberals and anything that can be said against them will be said".

His biggest wish is hoping he can take his money with him when the day comes. Unfortunately, when that day arises, we're all the same no matter if it's man, woman, child, or what race or religion.

[gauge33]

Yes Pierre, I wish the US, China and India, the major CO2 emitters, would jump on Wynne's climate change plan and solve the earths climate problems. Ontario and for that matter all of Canada on Wynne's plan would not amount to a row of beans in comparison.

Really though the whole carbon thing that the earth is going to hates in a hand basket is merely a plan to redistribute the worlds wealth.

Pierre, will you be able to get your hydro free under Wynne's plan? Or will you end up paying for perhaps your neighbours? 

[gauge33]

Canadians can’t afford a national carbon tax and I will never support one. We must find a smarter solution to our challenges – one that creates jobs and protects the environment. Canada can become a leader in the green economy. With your help and hard work, we can get this done without imposing new taxes.

When I meet with Conservative Party members, one thing is clear: we need to stop this next Liberal carbon tax regime. Businesses can’t afford it and hardworking Canadians are fed up with paying tax upon tax upon tax.

We need a smart, common sense approach to protecting Canada’s environment. I can confidently say that the solution will never come in the form of another Liberal tax.

MP Kellie

[pierrelebel]

"We need a smart, common sense approach to protecting Canada’s environment."

The Conservatives were in power for ten years in Ottawa.  What "smart common sense approach" did they come up with?

They only had one approach - lower corporate taxes for (mostly) foreign owned oil and gas producers.

A lot of good that did.

[gauge33]

How soon you forget! Harper brought us out of a deep 2008 recession and left a surplus for the incoming Liberals.

Canada slid into a deep recession late in 2008, as the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 3.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of the year, Statistics Canada reported Monday.

That is the biggest decline since the recession of 1991 and sparked a sharp drop on the markets. At the sound of the closing bell:

• Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index dropped 435.51 points, or 5.36 per cent, to 7,687.51, its lowest point since the fall of 2003.
• Wall Street's Dow Jones industrial average fell 299.64 points, or 4.25 per cent, to 6,763.29, plunging below 7,000 for the first time in more than 11 years.

[gauge33]

Since its creation in 1999, Scarborough—Rouge River has never elected a Progressive Conservative. Not once.

Tonight we’ve elected this riding’s first Progressive Conservative in its close to 20 year history. Congratulations to Raymond Cho, our new PC MPP for Scarborough—Rouge River! Thank you to the voters of Scarborough—Rouge River for supporting our vision for a better Ontario. To all of the PC supporters who joined our campaign, whether by volunteering or by donating: we can’t thank you enough.

With Raymond’s election, the PC engine is roaring to life. Kathleen Wynne has been put on notice. No Liberal riding is safe. No Liberal politician is secure. Everything is up for grabs, as Scarborough—Rouge River becomes the beginning of a wave that will end with a PC Government in 2018.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Same old story, one party angers the people and then they vote for the other, which as time has always shown, that new party eventually gets voted out because people grow to hate them. Don't get too over excited like a kid who just got a double ice cream cone.

The problem with our whole system is both political parties and how our system is set up for both voting and after these self made kings and queens get into office when the people lose their power and there is no accountability by the politicians. If one method always gives one the same results > change what you do and so far we have bought into the party system and our political traditions. We deserve what we get.

[gauge33]

Open letter to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

Hi Premier Wynne,

I’m worried.

I asked you to keep me informed about the $1.9 billion you are extracting out of the Ontario economy in new carbon taxes. I was excited when you promised lots of new jobs and reductions in carbon emissions. Then I saw the July jobs report. Wow, 36,100 Ontario jobs lost in a single month, the worst decline since the recession, and you still haven’t told me any good news about carbon emission reductions. I guess your new plan is not working.

Maybe it would have been better to leave that $1.9 billion in the hands of the Ontario businesses that were using it to hire employees before you taxed it away from them.

Read Kevin O'Leary's first open letter to Premier Wynne

However, I hear it’s not all bad news on the Ontario job front. While the private sector is losing jobs by the tens of thousands under your new tax policies, you have been busy creating some really interesting opportunities for your staff. I don’t know how I missed this, but apparently you lost $70 million setting up and then cancelling the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) in June. While in operation only six months, you hired some really special people that walked away with millions of taxpayers’ dollars for apparently doing nothing. It sounds so ridiculous that I am assuming I must have it wrong, and that’s why I’m putting pen to paper.

So here goes, true or false?

•Did you spend $8 million marketing the ORPP even though it didn’t exist? That sounds so crazy it can’t be true.

•Did you give Neala Barton, the plan’s senior vice-president of communications, $316,819? She started in March. Just exactly what was she communicating for 90 days?

•Did you pay Anne Slivinskas — the pension plan’s general counsel — $341,418 for working there just three weeks? That’s $2,845.15/hr. You don’t fool around with taxpayers’ money; You hire the best lawyers!

•Did you pay a tech guy named Brian Gill — the pensions plan’s CTO — $414,050 to work for two months! (Note to self: Send Premier Wynne my comp committee’s North American average salary report. Her laptop must have been hacked.)

•Jennifer Brown — your choice for senior vice-president of the plan’s operations — was a lifer. She started March 21 and lasted until the end of June. So, with that kind of long-term commitment, no one should complain about the $445,019 you gave her.

•Did you really pay ORPP CEO Mary Anne Palangio $465,938 for 90 days’ work? Who says you can’t get a great job in Ontario.

•This one is my favourite, it’s so out there! Did you give $485,000 to Saad Rafi when his job running the Pan Am Games ended and then hire him again to run the ORPP even though he has never had an investment mandate before? And then did you pay him an additional $827,925 to walk away a few months later? If this is true, I bet some taxpayers are unhappy about it.

Maybe it would help if you spin this as an inspirational story. You search the province for a seasoned financial money manager to be the fiduciary of the new ORRP but in the last minute hire someone who has fallen on hard times and is out of work, even though they never managed money before. It’s so Rocky-esque!

Rafi could have been great as a pension plan manager but we will never know. Giving him the $827Gs for taking this bold new step in his career is the least we taxpayers can do. After all, it’s hard to live off a measly $485,000 severance when taxes are so high in Ontario, but I know you are not spending any time worrying about that.

These must be very special people! No one in the private sector could ever get a deal like this: Thank goodness they know you. Some Ontarians might see this and assume you don’t give a **bleep** about their hard-earned money. Is that true? Frankly, if I gave away $2.8 million to employees that did nothing in my businesses, I would go bankrupt. Come to think of it, your government has a long history of starting projects, spending millions and then cancelling them — you know, like gas plants, “green” projects and now pension plans. That’s why Ontario is $308 billion in debt, so you are kind of bankrupting us, in your own special way.

Still I get it, perhaps from your point of view, why should anybody give a **bleep** about the $70 million you just wasted, it’s just a rounding error.

Well, maybe the voters do. Have you seen the latest polls? Perhaps at this point in your mandate you may want to think about delivering a little more transparency and performance instead of dreaming up new ways to tax people and businesses and then spending it this way.

I’m just trying to help.

Anyway, I don’t want to be negative so I hope you are having a great summer. I know the 36,100 people in Ontario who just lost their jobs in July are feeling a little down but I’m sure they will go from sad to glad when you tell them about all the carbon emissions you have reduced. Best you get that good news out soon. In the meantime, next time you are paying people on your staff to do nothing for $827,000, maybe you could show a little compassion and hire one of your 36,100 constituents who just lost their job.

There will be an election soon and when that’s over and you start your new career, I’m going to bet it won’t be one where you manage money.

Yours respectfully,

Kevin O’Leary

Ontario taxpayer, voter and your employer, for now.

[marnotom!]

"Embrace the change," UN environment boss tells Canada's oil patch

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/09/14/news/embrace-change-un-environment-boss-tells-canadas-oil...

“If Canada doesn’t embrace change, it will lose,” [Erik Solheim] said. “For economic and environmental issues combined. Of course some fossil fuels will remain a source of energy for some time, but the changes are coming much faster than anticipated. The price of solar is going down much faster than anyone thought. And energy efficiency provides solutions to a lot of issues if we really embrace it. So embrace the change.”

[gauge33]

"Due to the Ontario Liberals’ policies and incompetence on the hydro issue there were 60,000 people in 2015 who were cut off hydro and 566,902 families were in arrears."

Why isn't the UN boss also telling Ontarians to embrace Wynne's Green Energy Act which is pushing energy rates into the stratosphere?    

http://www.bramptonguardian.com/opinion-story/6831390-hydro-crisis-in-ontario/

[marnotom!]

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@gauge33 wrote:

"Due to the Ontario Liberals’ policies and incompetence on the hydro issue there were 60,000 people in 2015 who were cut off hydro and 566,902 families were in arrears."

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How do these numbers stack up historically?  For all I know they could have been similar ten years ago.  There's no context here.

[gauge33]

Cannot find historic data on that however data on 10 year kwh peak hour rate has increased by 89%. The topic has never been as loud across Ontario as in the last year and slated to get worse as the green energy act unfolds with price increase every 6 months.

Significant by their absence are those posters who in the past cheered Wynnes green initiatives. Are you one?

http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/OEB/Consumers/Electricity/Electricity+Prices/Historical+Electricity...

[gauge33]

Winnies climate plan has finally bit her where it hurts, in the polls. But that`s nothing compared to the hurt on 20% of Ontarians who are in arrears on their energy bills. And the morsels she has tossed out to Ontarians will soon be ate up by her cap and trade energy increases beginning Jan 1st. Ontarians will be hit at the gas pumps as well as at home on natural gas heating. For those who heat with electricity, well you have already been blown out of the water, or should I say house. Will regular 6 month hydro rates continue or will the promised revamp of the green energy act  next year change that?

Where's Pierre when the going gets rough? Maybe on the BBD thread, it's rough there also.      

[marnotom!]

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@gauge33 wrote:

Winnies climate plan has finally bit her where it hurts, in the polls. But that`s nothing compared to the hurt on 20% of Ontarians who are in arrears on their energy bills.     

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Strange how you didn't find this piece:

https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/08/17/ontarians-owe-more-than-1725-million-in-unpaid-hydro-bil...

The Ontario Energy Board reports 566,902 homes were in arrears last year, 263 fewer customers than were behind in their electricity bills at the end of 2014.

The article also points out the definition of customers as being in arrears as being 16 or more days behind in payments.  We have no way of knowing if these customers are just a few weeks late with their payments or a few months.