Premier Dalton McBraveheart: Goldstein

Source: Toronto Sun


The next time I run into Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, I will address him as “Braveheart” and paint his face green.

Just like Mel Gibson in his movie of the same name, except Gibson used blue.

Because I don’t want to be accused of terrorism, I give the premier fair warning of my intention.

Further, I assure his bodyguards they will not need to shoot me, because, unlike PETA, I will first ask Premier Braveheart if he wants his face painted green, and, if he says “no” I won’t.

But I will insist on calling him “Braveheart” which, is not a crime in Ontario ... yet.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “Lorrie, other than being off your meds, why do you want to call McGuinty ‘Braveheart’ and paint his face green?”

I’ll tell you why. Because Braveheart is the name McGuinty clearly wants us to call him in the wake of his $7-billion deal with South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group, to manufacture and sell wind and solar power in Ontario.

How do we know? Because it’s a Liberal talking point. We know that because when McGuinty announced the deal Jan. 21, he said: “Building the green economy, green-energy jobs and putting in place the Green Energy Act is not for the faint of heart.”

Five days later in a Sun column, newbie Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid, praised the boss for his ... uh ... brilliance, noting “this scale of change is not for the faint of heart.”

Trust me, when a premier and his line minister use exactly the same messaging, that’s a “talking point.”

McGuinty is telling us peasants what he’s doing is not for the faint of heart, hence, he’s not faint of heart, hence, he’s brave, hence he’s Braveheart. That’s Premier Braveheart, to you.

The problem is with Brave-heart’s bizarre concept of courage. All he’s doing is throwing our money (as electricity consumers) for the next 25 years (long after he’ll be a political trivia question) at a foreign business consortium, plus giving it prized reserved space on Ontario’s transmission grid, in order to sell us energy which isn’t viable without massive public subsidy and isn’t produced when the wind doesn’t blow and sun doesn’t shine.

All we know about this deal, negotiated in secret and announced as a fait accompli, is Samsung obviously thinks it’s going to make a heck of a lot more of our money than the $7 billion it’s investing, through (a) the heavily-subsidized rates we will be paying for 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power (2,000 wind, 500 solar) at 13.5¢ per kw/hr for wind, 44.3¢ per kw/hr for solar (b) a $437-million performance bonus and (c) whatever it makes from selling wind turbines and solar modules in Ontario and elsewhere.

Braveheart claims this deal will create 1,440 permanent manufacturing jobs and 16,000 jobs in all — most temporary — for a mere $1.60 per year more on the average electricity bill, part of his plan to provide at least 50,000 new jobs through his Green Energy Act.

Is any of this remotely credible? Who knows? We don’t even know if these 50,000 “new” jobs are “net” new jobs — meaning beyond those that will be lost in the traditional energy sector.

We do know that in Spain, considered a world leader in renewable energy, a study by economics Prof. Grabriel Calzeda Alvarez of Madrid’s Juan Carlos University found it lost at least 2.2 jobs elsewhere in the economy for every green one created, that only one in 10 green jobs was permanent and the estimated cost to taxpayers for each one was 571,138 euros ($850,000 Canadian). For wind, over one million euros ($1.49 million Canadian.)

While the Spanish government and green energy activists have criticized Alvarez’s research, wouldn’t it have been nice to have had this debate before Braveheart announced his deal?

After all, we’re paying for it. Right, Braveheart?

lorrie.goldstein@sunmedia.ca