Toronto: Chris Bentley, Ontario’s Minister of Energy, has recognized a theme that resonates with nearly everyone in the electricity business: the importance of clarity and certainty. Speaking to an audience of 600 people at the APPrO Banquet on November 15, the minister was relaxed and jovial as he explained his priorities and how he expects to approach his work as Minister.
APPrO members and people in all parts of the energy industry have often pointed to the value of having clear and stable public policy – as a means of assisting players from all parts of the field to be focused and efficient in their work. Minister Bentley said, “There is a lot of call, I understand, for clarity. There is a lot of call for certainty. And there is a lot of call for decisions today. I will act as quickly, with as much clarity and certainty as the needs of the people of Ontario demand and ask of me.” Pointing to the Long Term Energy Plan, the government’s unwavering commitment to the FIT program, and to expectations that current directions will be maintained, he suggested that stability is the order of the day. “Let me be clear, we are as committed to a clean, green economy as we ever have been. We are absolutely committed to the FIT and microFIT program. We are absolutely committed to bringing renewables on. And in fact the FIT review will give us the opportunity to establish an even more solid foundation as we conclude the start-up phase and we move into the future, to continue building on the work that you’ve already done.”
Summarizing the major priorities he sees for the coming phase of work, Minister Bentley pointed to reliability and safety of the power system as his top concern. Having a clean energy system is the second priority he identified, followed closely by affordability and job creation. “We have to make sure we have the generation that Ontarians need – not just for the next year or two, but over the next decade and more. We have to make sure it’s reliable and safe. We have to complete our commitment to get out of coal by 2014, a commitment we are going to meet. We have to make sure that as we build this clean green jobs-producing
economy that we always have an eye on affordability.”
With the FIT program well established, it appears that the attention of government is likely to move in the direction of affordability. “Our ability will be strengthened and enhanced if we remember the affordability side of the equation and we make sure that the people that I serve are always supportive of the moves we make, for the reasons we make them, knowing that we have an eye on their pocketbook as well as on the broader picture of the energy needs of the province. You will instantly be thinking the two of them should go together, and I agree. Making sure that they always go together is part of the job that I have to do.”
Minister Bentley stressed how interested he is in learning from people in the sector, and in “the expertise you have to offer. There is in this room, there is in the province of Ontario, expertise the likes of which you cannot find in many other places in the world, like – collectively, I would say, no other place in the world. And I want to take advantage of the experience you have, of the practical application of issues that you’ve lived through, of the advice you have – I want to take advantage of every bit of knowledge that you think I should have, as quickly as possible. And I look forward to many discussions.”
Concluding, he said, “I look forward to building that reliable and safe, clean jobs-producing and affordable energy system that will be the great foundation for the Ontario of the future.”