A petition, launched at the end of February by Thorold resident Mark Freeman, has garnered the support of more than 5,000 Ontario residents.
The petition calls on the Province to support an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) decision to update its fossil (natural) gas infrastructure expansion plan – but the Ford government is not listening, says Freeman.
Last September, Freeman, a member of a member of 50by30 Niagara and Biodiversity and Climate Action Niagara, successfully led the charge against a proposed gas plant expansion in Thorold South.
The victory lit a fire under him, and that's why Freeman wants the Ford government to say no to Bill 165, also known as 'The Keeping Energy Costs Down Act,' because he thinks it will take Ontario backwards when it comes to fighting climate change.
Bill 165 makes several changes to the Ontario Energy Board Act and overturns an OEB decision that requires homeowners and businesses to pay 100 per cent of natural gas connection costs up front, rather than spread out over 40 years. The Province will also have the ability to direct the board to hold hearings any time there is an issue that is thought to be of interest to Ontarians.
When the initial OEB decision was issued, Freeman was pleased.
“They were signalling they were actually taking climate change seriously,” he tells ThoroldToday.
But Bill 165 changes that, and according to Freeman, it is up to municipalities to take action.
“We’ve been trying to pressure the provincial government, but we need to do things locally,” Freeman says.
And some municipalities in Niagara are doing just that.
Pelham has already pledged its support for the OEB decision but other municipalities – Grimsby, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines – have not.
The St. Catharines decision has left Freeman puzzled as the Garden City is one he regards as a leader in the fight against climate change.
“I’m scratching my head and wondering why,” he says.
Freeman thinks that Bill 165 will directly benefit natural gas supplier Enbridge, who opposed the OEB decision.
“The Province wants to maintain the status quo, effectively protecting Enbridge profits and shareholder wealth while increasing the cost of living in Ontario,” Freeman says.
Pelham Mayor Marvin Junkin tells ThoroldToday that council backed the petition because they didn’t want there to be any kind bias on behalf of one type of heating (natural gas).
“If we are going to get into other forms of sustainable green energy, it has to be a level playing field,” Junkin says.
Thorold council has not yet been approached to show support for the petition, but Freeman hopes to see that happen in June.
Although, he pessimistically adds: “We can’t even get council to understand that there is a climate emergency."
That’s because back in March, some Thorold Councillors pushed for the City to end its involvement with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection Program. The free program helps municipalities take inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions, and helps develop and implement plans to reduce them.
At the time, some around the horseshoe – even those who believe in climate change – thought it was something that would be best dealt with at the regional and provincial levels of government.
“We got a provincial government that should mandate this,” said Councillor Anthony Longo, at the time. “We have a Region of Niagara that has probably done this and we’re going to duplicate the service, waste staff time, go on this merry-go-round and waste taxpayer’s money.”
ThoroldToday reached out to Longo and Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini for comment, but calls to both were not returned.
A spokesperson for energy minister Todd Smith says that one of the reasons the ministry opposes the OEB decision is partly financial: payment up front would drive up the cost of new homes in a market where affordability is already a concern.
“This change could increase the cost of an average new home in the province by $4,400 and tens of thousands of dollars in rural areas and would limit customer heating choices in Ontario,” Edyta McKay says, in an emailed response to ThoroldToday.
McKay claims that, contrary to what critics say, Bill 165 will help in the fight against climate change by offering consumers a choice as to how they want to heat their homes.
She adds that through the province's 'Powering Ontario’s Growth plan,' $342 million has been invested in energy efficiency programs in 2022 alone, and over four years, investments have topped $1 billion.
“These programs support advance market readiness and offer clean energy efficiency options as well as create well-paying jobs by building capacity in the skilled trades,” McKay says. “They also provide the government with the opportunity to continue to learn from different heating models and inform decisions on future heat pump programming as we prepare for the energy transition.”
Natural gas was named as an “important resource” in the Electrification and Energy Transition Panel’s (EETP) final report released last January, since it fulfills “three essential and distinct functions in Ontario’s energy system today as a fuel for electrical power generation, space and water heating, and industrial and agricultural industries.”
But Freeman maintains that reliance on fossil fuels like natural gas will not help Canada’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45 per cent by 2030. The OEB’s decision, he says, will help “stop the bleeding” and help set Ontario – and in turn, Canada – on the right path.
“The International Energy Agency has made it clear that if the world has any hope of meeting our climate obligations, there can be no more expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure,” he says. “In Ontario, fossil gas is responsible for approximately one-third of the province's greenhouse gas emissions and as buildings account for 19 per cent of the province’s emissions, the OEB decision is appropriately directing us to take that first step.”
As for the ministry’s concerns about housing costs, Freeman thinks that the OEB decision recognizes the world is changing and that using heat pumps is cheaper than using fossil fuels to heat buildings.
“Just as wood was replaced by coal, then oil and gas, moving forward, we no longer need to burn anything to heat [and cool] our homes,” Freeman says. “The OEB decision levelled the playing field, opening the door to Zero Emission Buildings utilizing a variety of proven fossil-free solutions including heat pumps and building/community level district energy.”
Enbridge, for its part, has welcomed Bill 165.
“We are encouraged that the government of Ontario is preserving customer choice and affordability through the introduction of the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act,” said Greg Ebel, Enbridge’s president and CEO, in a news release outlining the energy company’s first quarter financial results.
Back at Queen’s Park, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said he is concerned about Bill 165 and called for a value for money audit and review of the financial and environmental costs of the Ford government’s decision to overturn the OEB ruling.
“The government’s choice to overturn such a decision by an independent body sets a dangerous precedent, and it once again puts the interests of wealthy, well-connected insiders before everyday Ontarians,” Schreiner said in a media release.
On Wednesday, the Ford government passed Bill 165.
